Dream a little dream
by Tuffet37
Summary: Written for this prompt on the Kinkmeme: Can I please have some post-war romance for this pair? Preferably Sparatus wooing Shepard. Maybe he has always been attracted to her but was too cowardly to pursue her. Perhaps Oraka told him to pull his head out of his ass and go for it. Some language and mature content later on.
1. Chapter 1

The woman formerly known as Commander Jane Shepard lounged boneless in a reclining chair. The light breeze tugged at her auburn hair while the sun brought even more freckles out on her body. The smell of the salty sea air along with the lapping of the waves around her feet had relaxed her into a state of comfortable bliss. An edge of her mouth quirked upward in a grin at the thought that this whole section of beach had been closed off for her use thanks to an unlikely admirer.

The sound of footsteps had her cracking an eye open, even though she knew who it was. The former turian councilor, Sparatus, had arranged this whole weekend solely for her benefit. How he had figured out that lounging on the beach with unlimited Bahama-Mama's at her disposal was her idea of heaven, she had no idea although she suspected some of her former crewmates as divulging that information. She wasn't sure if it was all that open water that made him nervous or if it was being alone with her on this beach, either way she was enjoying his discomfort.

"You know Sparatus, you might be more comfortable in something a little less formal." Jane stated, a hint of laughter in her voice.

Sparatus's mandibles twitched, "I thought this was casual." even as he smoothed down his tunic and slacks.

"We are on an empty beach, hell I might even go skinny dipping later."

Sparatus wasn't sure how to respond to that comment. Part of him would be thrilled to see Shepard naked but another part of him was uneasy about his response to seeing her completely unclothed. Not that what she was wearing now left much to the imagination, when she had flung off her robe earlier and he saw what humans considered beach attire he nearly swallowed his tongue. Asari club dancers wore more than she did at this moment.

So he settled for a safer topic, "Would you like another drink?"

"Why Councilor, are you trying to get me drunk?" Shepard purred up at him.

"No, Spirits no! I, uh, just saw it was empty."

The woman was going to kill him he just knew it. Her green eyes caught his as she stretched, arching her back showing off her hips and waist. Spirits, did she even know what that did to him?

Her laughter chased him back up the beach as he retreated to the pavilion he had set up for their use. Turning his back to Shepard, his talons tapped out a comm code on his omni-tool.

"Septimus," Sparatus hissed at the holo of his friend, "This isn't working. Have you any other bright ideas?"

"Well if that's what you are wearing, of course you are failing. You look like you're going to a business meeting, not a weekend on an isolated beach with a woman. Did you not get the beach clothes I had sent to you?"

"I did, well half of it, there was no shirt."

Oraka laughed, "That's the whole thing, just the shorts. That's what human males typically wear for a sea-side holiday. Don't tell me you let yourself go soft?"

"Of course not," he huffed indignantly. "Just, I don't think a turian in that will attract her eye."

Oraka sighed, "We've been over this, if she wasn't interested she wouldn't have agreed to join you there."

"Well I may have increased my odds, that ship AI, EDI, gave me her extranet browsing history. This was the beach she viewed most often and I made sure to bring plenty of her favorite food and drink."

"Ha! I like it. Well go change and join her on the beach instead of talking to me."

Sparatus gingerly removed the 'shorts' Oraka had sent him. When he had first opened the package and saw them, he had sworn that Septimus was playing a joke on him. No way any human male would be caught dead in a pair of shorts with giant, bright blue and white flowers on them. A little searching on the extranet had him sighing that human males really did wear such outlandish things. Casting a glance out at his companion, he could see Jane was still turned away from him. It was now or never, he told himself.

He carefully removed the clothes he had worn when he had picked Jane up at the nearby space port. Grimacing in distaste at the outlandish piece of attire, he pulled the shorts on. Thankfully, this set at least was designed with a turian in mind. Clad in his swim trunks, something he was sure NO turian needed, he once more approached Shepard, still half-asleep in her chair. He had to admit, it felt good to feel the warm sand between his toes and the sun on his plates. Now if he could just pretend he wasn't wearing giant flowers while trying to impress a woman, life would be perfect.

Jane heard the turian as he carefully made his way back towards her. She wondered how long he would last this time before he retreated. He was always sure of himself when they had met in the Council chambers but out here, here she was seeing a new side to him. Tilting her head to the side to see what he was up to, she managed to bite down the laugh but the grin she gave free rein too.

"Now you look like a turian ready to relax on the beach! I like it, Councilor."

Sparatus eyed her carefully, was she teasing him? Maybe, but it was good-natured if her eyes were any indication.

"Please we both took a leave of absence from our respective careers so just my name will do. Now about human males choice in clothes, I think they need a good dose of fashion sense. And to top that off, I'm not sure why anyone thought turians needed special clothes to swim in but here they are."

He gestured to the swim trunks, the bright blue and white flowers standing out against the dark grey of his own plates.

"Oh come on, it will be fun! Splashing and frolicking in the waves."

Now he knew she was teasing him, the merriment dancing in her eyes was a clear indication that she knew exactly how preposterous that whole idea was.

"You do realize that turians can't swim."

"I think Garrus mentioned it once, he said it was mostly splashing interspersed with bouts of drowning."

"That is an accurate statement."

Jane tapped her jaw thoughtfully, "Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever learned your full name."

Sparatus chuckled at that, "I've been Councilor Sparatus for so long even my friends call me Sparatus now. But in answer to your question, my full name is Tolim Sparatus."

Sparatus inclined his head slightly as if he were greeting her for the first time. Jane stood up and grasped his hand in her own.

"Tolim, pleased to meet you. My name is Jane Shepard. So if turians don't swim at the beach, what do they do?"

"We enjoy sunning ourselves much as you were doing and the young like to dig in the sand and dodge the waves."

"I have to ask, how did you know I was craving a weekend on a secluded beach? Who ratted me out?"

Tolim shook his head, "I promised not to reveal my sources but the information was given with your best interest at heart."

"I assume there is a beach house nearby for our use?"

"I, uh, thought you might prefer to stay on the beach. But if you don't, I'll try and find housing nearby," he blurted out, his mandibles twitching nervously.

"Really? Where would we sleep?"

"Here, let me show you," he stated as he lead her towards the large airy structure placed well above the high tide mark.

Jane had only given the pavilion the most cursory glance in her haste to reach the water and begin the process of decompressing. Gauzy white cloth draped off the sides, allowing the open sides to be closed if needed. More cloth inside separated the structure into small rooms but still allowing a cross-breeze throughout the structure. She marveled at the conveniences it had hidden inside it. Tolim showed her the small kitchen area, no stove but a peek inside the cooling unit found it stocked with lots of already prepared food and even better fresh fruit from Earth.

"I'm impressed, we won't starve that's for sure."

"There is a self contained bathing room at the other end and on either side of it two bedrooms, one with a hammock for you and one with a mat for me."

Jane eyed him, "Yeah I can see how a hammock would go badly for you."

"Yes, being rescued from my bedding is hardly how I want to start the day," Tolim replied dryly.

As Jane gazed around the area her mind wandered to why he had done all of this for her. She had been amazed when she had received the invitation for a weekend beach getaway with him. She had accepted, not only because she craved it but because she was curious. For years he had always been formal and distant, she honestly thought he couldn't stand her. Of course when the Reapers had come a-knocken, well suddenly she was the go-to person for the war effort. And then after the Citadel coup he had even declared that he had owed her a personal as well as a larger debt for all of turians for saving their Primarch.

"I have to ask, why invite me here?" Jane inquired, puzzled at to his motivations.

Tolim sighed and for a moment, Jane thought he wasn't going to answer as he stared out over the water.

"Because I wanted to give you something that was just for you."

"Ah, I told you before you don't owe me a debt. Yes, I saved the galaxy but I didn't do it alone."

"Spirits! This wasn't about any debt I felt I owed you. I knew this was a mistake," he muttered dejectedly.

Sparatus's shoulders drooped as he turned to walk away, he was stopped when her hand reached out to grasp his arm. Jane took hold of his much larger hands in her own.

"Then what is this about? Not that I'm not grateful, this has been the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I mean that."

"I, uh, was hoping to, you know, get to know you better," he stuttered.

Jane could hardly believe her ears, this was the Councilor who always was smooth and sure of his words. She had never seen him like this, awkward and clearly feeling uncomfortable. Holy hell, he was courting her she realized.

"Why Tolim, I didn't know you cared!"

Sparatus eyed her, "Are you mocking me?"

"You have to admit, you have been an unmitigated ass to me on several occasions. Don't even get me started on those damn air quotes, 'Reapers, we dismiss that claim'," Jane exclaimed while wiggling her fingers much as he had done more than a year ago.

"I had to be hard on you," he growled.

"Why? Would it have been so difficult to believe me once in awhile?"

"Because! Saren's actions pushed you through the system faster than normal, we only knew what we read about you before we had that first meeting. Nihlus died before he even sent off a preliminary report about his observations about you. You were an unknown entity. Normally it takes months for a Spectre to be approved, they meet with all the Councilors on numerous occasions."

"Yeah, I can understand that," Jane sighed, "You didn't really know me and hell, even back then the concept of Reapers seemed impossible."

"If you want, I can get an Alliance ship here to bring you back to your ship," he replied softly.

"What? No, let's start over. Hi, I'm Jane," Jane held out her hand with a smile.

Having known a turian for years, she could read the confusion on his face but he he grasped her hand in his anyway.

"I'm Tolim."

"Great, now I believe we came here to relax and enjoy ourselves. However, I have one more question. If I tell you I saw a Reaper, what will you say?" she asked with a grin.

"Shepard, you were supposed to kill them all in the last war," he replied, only a slight twitch of one mandible giving away his amusement at the question.


	2. Chapter 2

Tolim followed Jane back out into the sun and down to the water's edge. The tide had begun to creep in and now her chair was beginning to be pushed by the waves. Although their chat had cleared the air somewhat, he was still unsure of his next move. Being the turian Councilor, he had given little time for pursuits of the romantic nature. The extranet advice he had found had seemed to be too generic to be of use to him. Jane was a singular person forged in the fires of the galaxy, he would just have to be able to adapt to her ways.  
Jane moved her chair up above the waterline once more, Tolim joined her, flopping back onto the warm sand. His eyes closed and he blissfully wiggled himself into the sand. Jane grinned as she watched him finally relax. His body's tension drained out of him and she got a glimpse of what he looked like when he didn't have the weight of his people on his shoulders.

"So you have any plans for us?"

"We can do as little or as much as you want," came the drowsy reply.

"I see a whole lot of relaxing in the sun then. You know, those Hawaiian shorts look good on you, I should try and find a shirt just like it for you. You could start a new fashion trend!" Jane exclaimed with a laugh.

"The mere thought of a line of attire with giant flowers on them is enough to make any grown turian cry," Tolim shuddered at the image of a whole suit with bright flowers on it.

Jane laughed, "Then I'm surprised you picked those shorts."

"I didn't, my 'friend' sent them to me, specifically for this weekend."

"Ah, then you probably don't want to know that they actually come in solids as well."

Tolim shot upright, outrage evident on his face, "What? Oraka is going to pay for playing this joke on me!"

"No, no! I like them. Solids are for boring guys. Hawaiian print says 'I'm here to have fun, damn the consequences!'"

"Yes, flowers scream I'm a party man," Tolim replied drolly as he flopped back onto the beach.

"Well party man, did you ever build sand castles as a kid?"

"No, my brothers and I played Captain Ceryx's Commandos when we came to the beach. It was a popular turian vid when I was growing up."

"Oh my god, you must have been adorable."

Tolim snorted, "I'm sure my parents thought so as they tried to keep the three of us from beating each other to death with sticks."

"Why would you hit each other with sticks? I mean commandos implies guns."

"Well we didn't have guns, sticks were our substitute and well since they don't shoot we just pretended we were always out of ammo."

Jane snickered, "Still, bet you three were adorable. I had older twin brothers so I was the pesky little sister. I, um, may have gotten into trouble a few times channeling waves towards their sand castles so that they got swept away."

Tolim chuckled, "I take it you want me to make a structure so you can destroy it?"

"Nah, I thought we could make one together so we could then destroy it."

Jane pushed herself out of her chair and held a hand out for Sparatus. He took her hand and she helped pull him upright, together they went closer to the water. Finding a likely spot she sat down on the hard wet sand.

"Now the key to making sand castles is having sand just wet enough, too wet or dry and it just doesn't work."

Tolim nodded and watched her as she began pushing sand together to form a wall, he copied her movements and together a building soon formed between them.

When he first noticed her quick glances around them and above them, he assumed it was just her leftover wariness of being a soldier recently in a war.

"Is there something I should know? Are we about to be attacked?"

"Uh no, it's just, I'm surprised reporters haven't found us yet, I don't know about you but I swear I have at least two of them following me wherever I go."

Tolim gave an embarrassed cough, "Ahem...well I may have pulled some strings and had a large chunk of area around us declared a no flight zone and well between your guards and mine, no one can get close enough on foot."

"What? I have guards?" Jane's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Yes, didn't they tell you? When I got clearance to bring you here they insisted on a squad of marines as guards."

"You mean, right now, there is a squad of human and turian soldiers patrolling around our beach?"

"Yes, don't worry though I insisted that we have our own weapons as well, you can find them in a box in the living area."

Tolim wasn't positive that the flush that crept up her neck was embarrassment but he couldn't keep the smile off of his face.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, things...just happen around me."

"Believe me, the galaxy is aware of this fact."

Jane huffed disdainfully, choosing to ignore that statement. Leaning back she took a good look at their 'castle', ok it was a box but it was theirs regardless. Tolim's side had much thicker walls than her own, she reached over and started shaving it down to match her own. His hand snaked out and smacked hers away.

"What? Your's are too thick, it will be harder to destroy it."

"You build your side the way you want, I like good solid walls myself."

She muttered softly, "Castle snob."

Flashing a grin, Jane dug a channel near his wall and continued the trough down towards the sea. Soon he had water lapping at the wall he had built, slowly eroding it. Conceding defeat he stood up and watched as the sea reclaimed the sand.

"So what we have learned today is that even as a child you had a penchant for destruction."

"It does come in handy at times," she replied with a laugh.

When they had first retreated to the shelter for dinner, he had been elated to think that he would soon be able to change into something more dignified. But then he saw how every time she glanced at him and then down at his shorts her face lit up in a smile. He decided the humiliation of wearing flowers was well worth seeing the delight on her features. Now they sat sharing the love-seat, her legs draped carelessly across his own as they relaxed after their meal. Jane leaned her head back and gave a contented sigh.

"Was that a good sigh or a bad one?" her companion asked.

"A good one, I haven't felt this relaxed in ages. I have to ask though, why did you wait so long to invite me on a vacation."

"Um, well after the war you were recovering from your injuries."

"It's been a year since the war ended and I've been back on duty for at least four months now."

"I, uh, wanted to make sure you were not involved with anyone else and well it took some time to arrange this."

Jane laughed at that, "What would you have done if it was supposed to rain this weekend?"

"I had several other areas lined up if the weather was bad at this one."

Jane poked him in the side, causing him to twitch away from her.

"You know, this strip of beach looks suspiciously like one I had been researching."

"Well, that, uh, might be because it is," he explained scratching the top of his fringe nervously.

"Someone gave you my extranet searches! Since Tali is back on Rannoch, it has to be EDI." She nudged him with her foot. "Fess up, it was EDI, wasn't it?"

"Does it really matter? I swore that I wouldn't reveal anything I found to anyone, so all of your secrets are safe with me."

"Damn, that's so not fair," Jane grumbled.

"How about I share one of mine with you?"

Jane perked up at that, "Something juicy I hope!"

He chuckled while punching up a few commands on his omni-tool. In a matter of minutes a 3-D projection of a movie appeared before them. A well recognized theme began to play.

"Blasto! You're a closet Blasto fan!"

Tolim chuckled, "Guilty. I found that when I need to take my mind off of work, Blasto is guaranteed to make me chuckle, at least a little. Something I'm sure you can appreciate."

Jane bopped his shoulder with her fist, "You have no idea."

As the vid started, Jane pulled her legs off of his and curled them up under her even as she carelessly pushed the decorative pillows onto the floor. Tolim watched her, wondering what she was up to. Next thing he knew, she was wiggling her way up under his arm so it now draped over her shoulders and she was cuddled into his side. At his questioning look she just grinned.

"This is proper protocol for vid date seating."

"I had no idea there was a certain way it had to be done."

"Now you know, there will be a quiz at the end of the weekend. I hope you're taking notes."

Tolim chuckled as he turned his eyes back to the show, but he found it hard to concentrate on the movie with her pressed up against him. Not that he minded, it felt good to have someone else to enjoy the little things with. He leaned his head against the top of her head, closing his eyes and appreciating that she was here with him. The sounds of the show washed over him, they could have had on a war vid and it wouldn't have changed how peaceful he felt. He opened his eyes when he realized she was beginning to slide down. He saw her groping around blindly with one hand, upon snagging one of the pillows she placed it in his lap and snuggled her head into it. He pulled the small brightly colored throw off of the back of the sofa and carefully arranged it around her. The vid continued to play, just background noise now so Tolim reclined his head against the back and shut his eyes once more.


	3. Chapter 3

A ray of light from the morning sun shone into Jane's eyes. She threw a hand over her face, a groan escaped her when her body protested the position she had spent the night in. Pushing herself up on her arms, she groggily ran a hand through her hair as she straightened her legs out. Tolim looked to be still asleep, his head resting on his arms on the side of the loveseat. He must have felt her move because she saw one of his green eyes watching her.

"How can you sleep like that? It looks terribly uncomfortable, why didn't you go to your bed?"

Tolim sat up with a groan, rolling his neck and shoulders trying to ease the cramped muscles.

"As for how, during the war, I don't know how many times I slept at my desk. Sometimes that was the only sleep I got. And as for why, well it just seemed wrong to leave you out here on your own."

Jane could hear his joints popping and cracking. Giving him a gentle nudge forward with her hands she tried to step behind him.

"Here, move forward and I'll try and get some of the stiffness out."

"I doubt you can push hard enough to help, but I thank you for the thought."

"Augmented human, remember? Just humor me."

Tolim sighed and moved forward until Jane could stand behind him. He groaned in relief as her nimble fingers pushed and prodded his muscles, easing the tightness in them. She started on one side and worked her way to the other.

"When you're ready to leave the Alliance, I'll hire you."

Jane laughed, "What would my job be?"

"Whatever you want so long as it includes this, don't worry I'll think of something vague and imposing sounding as your title."

He felt the brief touch of her lips to the side of his neck before she moved off the sofa. Now this was the way to start a day, he thought with a grin to himself.

"I'll keep that in mind, it's always good to know I have options."

Standing up, he stretched and yawned before moving to the cooling unit. He pulled out several dishes, opening one he pushed the other towards Jane.

"Anything in particular on your agenda today? More sand buildings to destroy?"

Jane took the container and opened it to find a mixture of fresh fruits. She popped a grape in her mouth, savoring the taste of it.

"Well there is one thing I would like to do."

"What?"

"I need to collect some seashells."

"Of course, mementos?"

"Yes, for a friend who is no longer with us. The krogan are having a ceremony to unveil the memorial they made of Mordin Solus. I want to leave some seashells at his statue."

"Then we shall find him some."

Tolim carried the small box that contained the shells they had found so far. It had become a game, to see who could find the best shells as they strolled along the edge of the waves. When Jane stopped and gazed out to sea, Tolim looked to see what she saw. No hint of anything that shouldn't be there so he waited patiently for her to move again.

"Tolim, are you going as the turian representative to Tuchanka?"

"No, the Primarch wished to attend the ceremony."

"Oh," she said softly.

Was he just being wishful that she seemed unhappy he wouldn't be there? Bracing himself for a response he didn't want, he threw out a hint anyway.

"I did notice that on the turian invitation that it was for a dignitary and a guest. I would assume the human version was the same."

Jane turned a thoughtful gaze at him, a smile on her lips. "Tolim, would you like to attend the Tuchanka memorial with me as my guest?"

"I would love to," he replied smiling.

"Great! I'll have the Normandy swing by and pick you up at the Council's command complex on Benning before we head to Tuchanka."

Jane darted down to the waves lapping at the sand, pulling a shell free from the sediment. Washing it carefully in the sea she then placed it in the box.

"Jane, I have a question if you don't mind."

"Go ahead, no guarantees I'll answer it."

"Fair enough. I had it on good authority that the Alliance was going to make you an Admiral but when the announcement was released you were a Captain. What happened?"

A mischievous look crossed her face, "Well that would be because I told them that if they tried to make me an Admiral there would be dire consequences."

"Really? Such as?"

"One - I would resign, two - I would resign and join the krogan military or three - I would resign and steal the Normandy and go pirate. They wisely chose to make me a Captain instead and leave me on the Normandy."

"Why didn't you want such an honor? That would have made you the youngest Admiral in your history."

"Alliance Admirals are more desk jockey than soldier. I want to be a soldier still, when I get tired of it then I'll probably retire all the way."

"Then what will you do?"

"Well I did receive a job offer earlier today, so I have options."

She nudged him with her shoulder as they both chuckled.

Jane had painstakingly packed the shells in her bag and once more the pair had settled in the sun to relax. It didn't take long before the inactivity began to eat at Jane. She peered down at Tolim from under her eyelashes. The turian once more had chosen to lay on the sand next to her rather than use one of the beach chairs. For a politician, he looked to be in very good shape, hell, none of the human statesman she had ever met had kept themselves in as a good of shape. She shifted in her chair and one of his eyes opened to see what she was up to.

Grinning down at him she said, "You look good for a public official."

Both of his eyes popped open at that statement. "I'm not even sure how to take that."

Jane laughed, "I meant that you kept yourself in good shape. Most humans get soft when they sit behind a desk, but not you. Can turians even get soft?"

A rumbling laugh escaped him. "Yes, we can get soft as you put it, it's unusual but is possible. And thank you for the compliment, though if I had let myself go I would likely not have been able to escape the Citadel when the Reapers showed up."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you escape? I mean, I'm glad that you did but the amount of bodies I saw there...I didn't think many got away."

He propped himself up on his elbows so he could see her better. "Well it was a combination of things really. After the Cerberus coup attempt, I stashed weapons and armor in my office along with the set I normally kept in my apartment. I swore I wouldn't be caught without some way to protect myself again. And finally, I dealt with the stress of the job by spending several hours every day down in the training room and at the shooting range. When the attack came, I had armor and weapons handy. My guards and I fought our way to the docks, rescuing those that we could. Once we boarded a ship, the Reapers let us escape as they were more interested in holding the Citadel then dealing with those fleeing."

"How many did you rescue?"

"Not nearly as many as I would have liked. A handful of dock workers and a few others, many of my guards didn't make it off the Citadel with us," he replied wistfully.

"I know what that is like."

"And now we are able to relax on a beach and forget, at least for a little while, the past."

"You know, for a politician, you're pretty smart."

"If only I could blush as you humans do, first I get told I'm not bad for a politician and now pretty smart. You'll turn my head with such talk."

Jane erupted in laughter, "That's what I like best about you, you can be just as big a smart ass as me."

Standing up, Jane stretched her arms over her head, the heat of the sun having loosened up her muscles. Tolim observed her, wondering what she was next on her agenda.

"I think it's time to take a dip in the water."

His whole body gave a little shudder, "Must you?"

"It'll be fun, I learned to swim as a small child."

With a laugh, Jane ran down to the water and dove beneath the waves. Tolim scrambled up and jogged down to the water's edge. He watched her surface further out than he could wade. She gave him a wave and proceeded to float on her back. Sparatus paced along the edge of the water, his eyes always watching her, making sure she was okay. As he watched she slowly drifted even further out to sea, idle movements of her hands seemed to be the only thing she needed to do to stay afloat.

"Jane," he called out anxiously, "can you swim closer to the land? You are beyond where I could reach you if something were to happen."

His strides took him back and forth along a small stretch even as long strokes of her arms brought her back towards land. Seeing her coming in, he forged into the surf closing the distance between them. Jane stood up upon reaching the shallower part of the surf. In a few quick strides Tolim was in front of her and then she found herself caught up in an embrace from him. She laid her head against his chest and found an odd vibration emanating from him.

Gazing up at him she asked,"What is that I'm feeling? It's like a small shudder going through you."

"What you feel are my subharmonics giving voice to my relief. You can't hear them but you can feel the vibrations from the sound I produce. It was very distressing to me when you floated so far out. If anything had happened, there was nothing I could do but call for help from our guards and hope they could reach you in time. I know you're capable but I can't help that I felt utterly helpless."

Jane sighed, "Well this isn't the first time I've been scolded about my tendency for reckless behavior. I was ok, but I can understand your anxiety. Knowing my luck I'd find some big ass shark like thing out there that would try and eat me, so I'll stay closer to shore, ok?"

"Thank you, that means a lot to me. I do not wish to curtail your fun because of me."

"It's ok, I know what it's like to watch someone die because you couldn't reach them in time," Jane said softly.

Tolim pressed his forehead to hers before turning her around so she faced out to sea once more.

"Now go and splash and frolic and I'll sit here safely on the sand and watch you."

"Oh no, you're out here in the waves now. Time for a splash war!"

The words had barely left her mouth before Jane laced her hands together and swung with all her might into the sea, directing a wave of water directly at Tolim's face. He sputtered as water dripped off of him. Giving her a feral grin, he mimicked her moves and soon an all out war of water was taking place.

Jane turned her face to avoid the deluge of water pointed at her. Damn him and his bigger hands and longer arms, he was winning and Jane couldn't think of a single sneaky move that would even the odds. She attempted to flee out into the deeper water when his arm snaked around her and pulled her back.

"Oh no, no sneaking off to the deep to avoid the battle you started," he laughed.

"Fine, fine, you win then."

"Why am I not reassured that this is really the end?"

Mustering up her most innocent smile she quipped, "Why Councilor, I have no idea what you mean."


	4. Chapter 4

Jane took his hand in hers and together they forged out of the surf together. Drenched and breathing hard, they made their way across the sand. At first he thought they were heading for their spot on the beach but she continued on moving towards the pavilion.

"Well now that you have tried to scare me to death and then drown me, what is next on your list of fun beach activities?"

Jane grinned, "Well I had thought about talking you into letting me bury you in the sand, but decided that might be more than your poor old body could take."

Shaking his head in disbelief, "How did your people ever make it to the stars when their idea of fun at the beach is to drown and/or bury each other?"

"What can I say, we are an adventurous lot. Luckily for you, I have something else in mind."

She threw him a wink before letting go of his hand reaching behind her to untie her bikini top. Tolim stopped dead in his tracks, was she really doing what he was seeing? From all accounts that he had read, humans were not into casual nudity but here was Captain Jane Shepard casually stripping on the beach.

Jane spun around when she heard him stop, the expression on his face was priceless. Pulling up her omni-tool she took a holo of him just so she could admire his stunned face whenever she wanted.

"Think fast," she called tossing her top at him.

Instinct allowed him to catch the item before it slapped him in the face. He tried to make himself move but apparently his body had a mind of it's own. As he watched, her hands tugged the little piece of cloth that covered her bottom down below her knees. Hopping on one foot she managed to get it off and with a laugh she threw that at him as well. He snatched it out of the air and then she turned and ran for the pavilion, laughing the entire time.

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" she gasped between laughs.

He wasn't sure what that meant but he knew a challenge when he heard one. Still clutching her swim clothes, he raced after her, his long strides allowed him to rapidly catch up to her. Just before she could step inside, he grabbed her and swung her up and around. He never dreamed that during this weekend he would be holding a wet, naked Shepard in his arms but the reality was far better than what he had imagined.

Growling low in her ear he said, "I believe I won this contest as well."

He lowered her down to the sand, never letting go of her all the way. She twisted to face him, he could see the laughter in her eyes and something else. All thoughts fled his mind when she gently stroked along the edge of one mandible and down the side of his neck sending his pulse racing.

"Luckily for you, I have something in mind for the winner," her voice husky with desire.

"Jane," he choked out, "I don't want this to be something casual."

"You're in luck then, I don't do casual. It's always back fired on me before."

"Spirits, don't think I don't want you but I need you to be sure that this is right for you."

Pressing her lips lightly to his own, she replied softly, "This is what I want, I want you. Now, let's go wash the sand off before we do anything else."

Together they made their way to the oversized shower stall. The water was colder than he would normally like but right now it might be just the thing to help him keep from pushing her against the wall and finishing what she had started. Her hands joined his as together they divested him of the sole article of clothing he wore. Although he still thought the shorts were a crime against the galaxy, he decided that from now on they would be a symbol of good luck for him.

After stepping out of them, he carelessly threw them onto the sink where he had left her swimming attire. A groan escaped him as her hands wandered back up his body, caressing the skin between his plates. How did she know to do that? Had she been doing research as well, that thought drifted through the haze of his mind. He grabbed her hands, stopping her assault on his senses.

"Hey, I wasn't done," Jane protested.

"I would rather finish this out of the shower. First let's make sure there is no more sand on you."

Jane could have sworn there was a hint of mischief in his eyes as he gently traced the outline of her body with his hands. When one finger delved between her legs and gently stroked her, her knees nearly buckled under.

"Oh not fair," came her breathy complaint.

"Just making sure you don't have any sand there," he explained with a rumbling laugh.

"Well I should do the same for you."

She bit her lip trying to keep a whimper from escaping. Dammit, the man had just barely started to touch her and she was losing control already. Leaning in towards him, she used one hand to cup his groin plates, her fingers gently teasing the slit. A hiss escaped him as he threw his head back, water sluicing off of him.

"As you can feel, I'm well protected from sand," he growled before pulling her hand away. "but not from your hands."

He slammed his hand over the panel, shutting off the water. A towel from a nearby shelf was swiftly wrapped around her, trapping her arms inside. She gave him a silly grin as he rapidly toweled her off, his movements an indication of his impatience. His hands dropped away from her as he moved to dry his own body. Jane took that as an opportunity to once more run her hands all over his body.

His towel landed on the floor next to hers before he laced his fingers with hers. Together they moved to the sleeping mat that had been laid out for his use. They knelt facing each other on the mat. Tolim dipped his head before pressing his lips to hers. Her lips were so soft against his that he was worried that he would bruise hers but when she pressed her body against his, he knew she didn't care.

He moved his lip plates down to her neck, gently nipping and grazing his teeth as he went. Jane moaned and she bared her neck to him, allowing him easier access.

"Yes, like that. God, yes," she begged.

Encouraged, he allowed his hands to roam across her body, enjoying watching her reaction. She reclined onto the mat at his gentle nudges. He could feel more than see the extensive scarring that criss-crossed her body. The doctors had worked diligently to fix the damage from when she was caught in the blast on the Citadel. He thanked whatever Spirits had been watching over her that day as he worshiped her body now.

Gently cupping her breasts didn't garner the response he expected, so he continued on down her body. Closing his eyes he tried to memorize her scent and taste as his mouth journeyed further south. His teeth grazed along her inner thigh, his tongue stroking the skin.

"Tolim, if you don't stop fucking teasing me," Jane growled out.

A rumbling laugh was his verbal response before his mouth dipped to taste her. A heartfelt moan escaped her as her hands struggled to find purchase on the mat. Using his tongue he learned the spots she liked best based on the gasping cries that she gave voice to. It didn't take long before her hips were bucking under his hands and then with a strangled cry she called his name.

Jane felt Tolim move back up her body. She reached up and pulled his head in for another kiss.

"When you're ready to quit your job, I'll hire you," she said with a contented sigh.

"Mmm, and what exactly will my job be?" was his rumbling reply.

"Captain's cabin boy, and you know, doing more of that. I'm almost embarrassed at how easy that was for you."

"Uh, I may have done some research on how to pleasure a human woman."

"Well now it's my turn to explore your body."

"Next round, I fear, like you, I won't last long."

That was all he managed before he filled her in one quick thrust, he managed to stop himself from continuing, allowing her to adjust to him. She wrapped her legs around his waist forcing a hiss of pleasure to escape him. Feeling her body arching up to meet his, he started to move. Her body was so tight and delightfully different that it wasn't long before he felt the end rushing up on him far faster than he wanted. One last shudder and his release crashed over him.

He rolled off to the side, too relaxed to want to move. Jane snuggled into his side and he draped his arm around her with a contented sigh.

"Next time will be better," he told her while he nuzzled her hair.

Jane chuckled, "You will get no complaints from me."

***  
Jane awoke with a contented smile on her face, she had a warm turian at her back and last evening had been pleasurable, very pleasurable. But today it would have to come to an end, that was a sobering thought. A small sad sigh escaped her.

Tolim nuzzled the back of her head before he sleepily asked, "What's the matter?"

"I was just thinking, today we have to leave. This has been the best vacation ever and I'm sad it's almost over."

"Yes, the shuttle will pick us up at noon. You won't have to go through the spaceport at least, it will bring us directly to our ships."

"Well at least in a few weeks I'll be seeing you again."

"I'm looking forward to being your 'cabin boy' at least for a few days."

Rolling over to face him, she reached up and stroked his cheek bringing a rumbling sigh from him.

"Not that I'm adverse to another round or two, sadly I fear we don't have time to do it right and still be ready to leave on time."

"Why? How much time do we have?"

"Only about two hours."

"Crap! I never sleep this late."

"Well there wasn't much sleeping during the night," he chuckled.

"Smug bastard," she muttered.

Tolim pressed his forehead to hers before untangling himself from Jane. Standing up he reached down and offered her a hand up. Unable to resist, he pulled her in for a quick nuzzle along the neck.

"Hey, you're the one who said we didn't have enough time," she gasped out.

"Yes I know, perhaps you should go shower alone. Now that I've had a taste, I find I want more."

"Flatterer," she grinned adding an extra sway to her hips as she left.

***  
Preparing to leave took longer than expected, there had been occasional breaks for a kiss or two or three or four which slowed down their progress on the morning chores. It hadn't been easy but they had managed to be ready and waiting when the shuttle had shown up for them. But at least they were the only passengers, a separate transport would pick up all the guards. Togther they sat side by side, bodies pressed together as they swayed to the shuttle's movements while holding hands.

"Send me messages when you can," he murmured into the top of her head.

"I will. As soon as I know our arrival time on Benning, I'll send you a ping."

"I'll be waiting until then."

"We are approaching the Normandy now, ETA five minutes," their pilot informed them.

Jane climbed slowly to her feet, for the first time in a long time she was dreading returning to her ship. It had been her haven and home for so long. Tolim stood next to her, one hand holding onto the strap. He was caught unaware when Jane turned and threw her arms around him. She pressed her face into his chest. His free arm wrapped around her, his face pressed against head.

"I'm going to miss you," he whispered.

"Me too," she replied.

The shuttle jolted as it came to rest on in the Normandy's bay, the door slowly swung open. Pressing his forehead to her one last time, he let her go as she moved towards the door. Turning, she gave one last wave to him as she exited. He watched her until the door shut once more, a small sigh left him as he resumed sitting.

***  
Jane turned to watch as the shuttle left the Normandy's bay, when it was gone she resumed her march to the elevator. Reaching her cabin she unpacked her items, the shells carefully put aside.

Activating the comm she asked, "Anything I should be aware of EDI?"

"Negative Shepard. How was your weekend?"

"Excellent, though I guess I should be thanking you as well."

"You aren't mad?"

"No, I have to say I'm glad he asked you and not Joker though."

She could hear Joker's voice faintly come across the link.

"Jeff offered to help me but I told him that wasn't necessary."

"Thank God for small favors," Jane muttered softly. "Do we have a mission lined up?"

"Yes, we are currently en-route to aid a colony that has reported a few pirate attacks."

"Right, back to work then."

***Somewhere in Hierarchy space***

Septimus Oraka checked his personal account once more, still nothing, he took that as a good sign. His VI was set to scour local news feeds from the colony where Shepard and Sparatus were currently vacationing at. No explosions, no reports of destruction of property, he sincerely hoped that meant his friend was making headway.

Activating the comm link, he contacted the turian Captain in charge of the guard detail for the couple.

"Captain, this is General Oraka. Status report."

"General, nothing to report so far. Had a few reporters questioning about why the area was cordoned off but we gave them the usual military maneuvers excuse."

"Good, let me know if anything at all happens."

"Aye-aye sir!"

Tolim sighed, trying to focus on the reports piled around him and not Jane. His eyes drifted to one of the holo's he had put on his desk. This particular one was of her holding one of her shells up for his approval. A finger gently traced along her face but his musing was interrupted by the intercom.

"Councilor, I have a package from a 'Jane Shepard' and General Oraka is on vid com for you. Do you want me to open the package for you?"

"No, no thank you Essan. Bring me the package and I'll take the call from the General."

"Yes, sir."

Standing up he moved to the console used for vid calls. His assistant, Essan, entered his office bearing a good sized package. She quickly placed it on his desk at his nod, leaving him alone once more. The comm unit pinged that there was a request to link. He pushed the button and a holo of his friend appeared.

"General, what can I do for you?"

"Don't give me that Tolim! Tell me, how was your weekend?"

"It was good, thank you," he replied stiffly.

Oraka tilted his head, staring at him. "Say that again."

"Are you getting hard of hearing? I said it was good, thank you," Sparatus teased him.

"No...you're tamping down on your subharmonics! You sly bastard, now tell me how your weekend was while you aren't doing that."

Tolim released his control, "I said it was good." He cringed knowing how it sounded.

Oraka burst out laughing, "You slept with her!"

"I never said that!"

"Your subharmonics are so full of disgustingly happy and satisfied notes they make my teeth ache!" Septimus chuckled, "I'm happy for you, really. So, uh, how did she like the shorts?"

"She loved them, though I think she loved the fact that they look ridiculous on a turian. I, however, think they are hideous but since she likes them I guess I will forgive you. Though I will blame you if she tries to start a trend of Hawaiian prints for turians like she kept joking about."

Septimus shuddered, "Spirits that's just wrong."

"My thoughts exactly."

"So, when are you two getting together again?"

"She invited me as her guest to the Tuchanka ceremony."

"Ah yes that's where every happy couple vacations together."

Tolim laughed, "Well its more that she will be picking me up so I will be on the Normandy with her."

"Ah, now we are talking. Have you heard from her since that weekend?"

"She sent me a quick message before they went silent, they were heading to a colony that had a pirate problem. But she must have had time to order me something on the extranet since I just received a package from her."

"Really? What was it?"

"I don't know, I took your call first."

"Open it man!"

Tolim picked the package off his desk and using the edge of a talon he carefully sliced it open. He pulled a note out of the top.

"What's that?" Septimus asked craning his neck to see better.

"A note from the site where she bought the items, it says 'Something to keep you company and something for you to wear the next time we are together. - Jane'."

"Naughty clothes already? What is the galaxy coming to?" Septimus joked.

Tolim pulled the first item out, a large Blasto plushie, evoking a laugh from both of them. The next item had Tolim groaning.

"What? What is it?"

"This, this I blame on you!" Tolim complained before pulling out a turian shirt in a bright obnoxious hawaiian print. Huge flowers of every hue covered the bright blue background of the garment.

Oraka tried to turn his laugh into a cough but Sparatus just turned a baleful eye on him. "Well I look forward to seeing you two out and about while you are wearing that."

"I plan on only wearing that in the privacy of a bedroom and for her only so you can just go choke on your laughter somewhere else."

"Well I suppose I should get back to work, now that I know how things went I can relax. If you need any more help, I'll be happy to offer my services."

"Yes, I can just imagine," Tolim replied drolly.

The link ended and Tolim dropped the shirt back into the box, Blasto however, he left on his desk.

***  
Jane stood behind Joker's chair watching the stars as they headed towards the colony where the distress signal had come from. A grin crossed her face as she imagined what Tolim's reaction would be to her gift. Joker glanced back at the Captain, if he didn't think he would get smacked for it he would take a holo of her with that shit eating grin of hers.

"Captain, you look mighty relaxed. Good vacation I take it?"

"Yes it was."

"Take any pictures to share with the rest of us?"

"Sure, did you want to see the naked ones first?" Jane asked with a laugh.

"Ugh Shepard! Shit that's just wrong, now I can't get that picture out of my brain!"

"Aww then you'll really love to know we are picking him before we go to Tuchanka. Imagine all the places we can do it on the ship," she purred into his ear.

"Now you're just being evil," he muttered.

Jane laughed as she walked back to the CIC. Some days it was good to be the Captain.

EDI had been oddly silent during the exchange. But there was an amused tone to her voice when she stated, "I don't think that went as you planned."

Joker's shoulders drooped before he sighed, "Yeah no kidding."


	5. Chapter 5

Tolim and Jane breathed a sigh of relief as the airlock shut behind them. The space port had been crazy, security had scrambled to keep bystanders away from the docking tube where the Normandy rested. The Normandy's arrival had been leaked and reporters and civilians alike had jostled for position to get a glimpse of the Normandy's Captain. Jane had taken the time to greet the crowd, smiling and waving at the people gathered. Reporters had screamed questions at her but she just ignored them as she escorted Tolim inside her ship.

Jane chuckled and waved at the bags around Tolim's feet, "That is an impressive amount of luggage for a few days."

"One is my armor, the smaller case is weapons and the last bag is my regular clothes."

"What? You think you will need armor and weapons at the ceremony?" Jane laughed.

"Let's see, I'm traveling with Captain Shepard on the Normandy to Tuchanka. What part of that equation doesn't equal needing weapons and armor?"

"Lies and slander I say!"

Tolim chuckled, "I like being prepared for anything. Now where shall I stow my gear?"

Jane leaned in close to whisper, "Well cabin boys need to be readily available to their Captains, so it's my quarters for you."

"Every good turian knows to obey their Captain."

Jane grinned, "That's what I'm counting on."

The ride in the elevator seemed to take forever, both of them tense and waiting. The doors slid open revealing the top floor, Jane hit the control panel and ushered Tolim into her cabin. The door slid shut behind him and he shed his bags and then Jane was pushing up against him. He caught her and held her against him reveling in the feel of her once more.

"I missed you," he murmured against her neck.

"Same here, stealth missions make it hard to be in communication with anyone."

His only answer was the movement of his mouth against her neck wringing gasps from Jane. His hands pushed up her top, slipping his fingers up to caress her skin.

"You keep that up and I'll lock you in here and have my way with you."

"Yes please," was his breathy reply.

Jane gave a low laugh as she gently untangled herself from his arms. Hearing a sad sigh from him, she pressed her forehead to his and he gave a contented rumble. Jane pressed her hands to her top, smoothing it out where he had bunched it up. Tolim grinned watching her try to get her Captain face back on. Unable to resist, he leaned back in to graze his teeth along the side of her neck. Jane shuddered before she smacked him on the chest.

"Will you quit that, I should have never told you how much I like that," she growled.

"I figured that out, without your added encouragement, though I do like it."

"Well smart guy, I need to finish filling out some reports before Hackett scolds me again. Feel free to explore, EDI is available at consoles all around the ship."

"Would you like me to go elsewhere so you can work in peace at your desk?"

"Somehow I think you'll be distracting me regardless of where you are," Jane grumbled.

Tolim gave her a little bow, "Thank you."

"That wasn't meant as a compliment."

"That's how I choose to take it though. I'll sit over here on the couch and check on some of my correspondence and think distracting thoughts."

Jane pulled the datapad that contained the latest report in front of her. She watched as Tolim pulled out a datapad and made himself comfortable on the couch near her bed. The sound of his shoes hitting the floor, brought images of stripping him completely into her mind. Seeing her watching him, he grinned and moved to make sure he would be in her line of sight. Groaning, Jane dropped her head into her hands. He was having far too much fun at her expense.

She forced her eyes down and at her datapad trying to ignore the sound of his moving about and then she heard the unmistakable noise of clothing being adjusting. He wouldn't, she thought to herself. Looking up, she learned, he would. Tolim had released the top most latches on his tunic, pulling the cloth away from his body. Having observed turians over the years, she had learned that although they wore armor and tunics all the way up to their neck, they did not like it.

If three years ago someone had told Jane that she would be distracted by a turian partially undoing their shirt in her room, she would have laughed at them. Now she just wished she could retaliate in kind to the smug bastard but if she did that, her reports would be another day late or even longer. His green eyes caught hers as she watched him. One brow plate quirked upward, he had obviously spent too much time with humans.

"We have a saying on Earth, Councilor, payback is a bitch," she warned him.

"I look forward to whatever retaliation you care to use," he replied with a grin.

Jane heard him chuckle when she dropped her head back to her work. Several hours later and mustering all her willpower, Jane finally managed to send off the last report. She rolled her shoulders and neck with a groan as she stood up, having spent the entire time hunched over her work trying to concentrate. The creak of leather and the heavy footsteps warned her that he was on the move. Then his warm hands were massaging her shoulders and she could only sigh in relief.

"You worked so hard, I think you deserve a reward," he murmured.

"Damn straight, especially since my companion was having far too much fun at my expense," Jane groused.

"It's your own fault," Tolim explained even as he leaned in to nibble at the back of her neck.

"Mine?"

"Yes, it's very flattering to know that a woman can't keep her eyes off of you."

"What in hell happened to the awkward man from the beach?"

Tolim laughed at that, "You took him into your bed and now he feels pretty damn good about everything."

Jane faced him, the heat in his eyes a mirror for her own. "Well then, I think it's time to even the score."

If anything his smile only got wider. She reached down and tapped a few commands, locking them inside from the rest of the ship.

* * *

Tolim stood under the hot Tuchanka sun waiting for Jane to rejoin him. She was laughing with Urdnot Wrex, the old krogan growling at anyone who came near while he was trying to talk to her. Jane had just swung around to make her way to him when a grey plated krogan barreled into her. Growling, Tolim headed for them but then Jane merely grinned and head-butted her attacker playfully. It soon became obvious the pair knew each other and were friends. Whatever they had discussed brought an excited expression to Jane's face. She waved him over urgently.

"Tolim! This is Grunt, he helped me with the Collector's and now he's got something fun for us to do before the banquet tonight."

The krogan eyed him, "He looks weak."

Tolim bristled at the statement, "I've done my share of fighting."

"He fought his way off the Citadel when the Reapers took it, Grunt. He'll be fine."

Grunt's blue eyes narrowed, "If you aren't worthy, I'll shoot you myself."

Jane rolled her eyes, "Give us thirty minutes to get suited up and back here."

Grunt nodded, "I'll bring the tomkah around."

"What exactly are we doing?" Tolim asked as Jane hustled him back towards the Normandy's shuttle.

"Grunt asked if I wanted to help him with a thresher maw that's trying to make a nest near where they are building a new school."

"Help?"

"Okay, kill it."

"On foot?"

"That's the only way to kill one on Tuchanka, terrain is too rough to be able to ride around it shooting it from a truck."

Tolim shook his head, "I'm not sure who is crazier."

By the time they had returned to Tuchanka, Grunt was pacing impatiently.

"Finally," Grunt muttered.

"Hey, not our fault that with all the space traffic now it took longer than I expected."

Grunt climbed into the tomkah's drivers seat and set the vehicle in motion. Jane and Tolim stood behind him, hanging onto the straps as the truck rolled towards their destination.

"Same tactic as we used before Grunt?" Jane asked.

"Yeah, though this one is smaller and Wrex would have my hump if we used the Cain on it near the new construction. So we just have to fill it with enough bullets until it goes down."

"Tactics?" Tolim asked.

"Grunt will go right, Tolim, you take my left and find something it can't knock down that you can shelter behind when it spits and then when it's after someone else you shoot it...a lot."

"Ah that would be why you insisted on the sniper rifles."

"Yes, and keep your helmet on so you don't catch a face full of acid. If it isn't too big, a few rounds from the ol' Widow ought to bring it down."

"Do me a favor Jane?"

"Sure."

"If the Primarch asks where we went, tell him your friend took us sight-seeing. I doubt he would think much of us going on a maw hunt in the middle of this event."

Jane laughed, "Yeah I can't see that going over well if the Alliance found out either. Hear that Grunt? We are touring the landscape and well, maybe we accidentally found a maw and had to kill it to keep the civilians safe."

Grunt just laughed. "Whatever you say Battlemaster."

Grunt maneuvered the vehicle through the settlement that was under construction. The crews had been sent away until the maw was dealt with. The rumble of the truck arriving awoke the beast and it's initial assault shook the vehicle.

"Fuck," Jane cursed, "Grunt, can you get us on solid rock so we have a chance of getting out of the truck without being pulled under?"

"Yeah but be ready to run," Grunt answered as he spun the wheel heading for a nearby rocky area.

The vehicle lurched to a stop and the three of them dodged out of the truck as fast as they could. The maw was momentarily confused as which to follow as it's prey scattered. It dove back down below the soil, the movement of the ground the only give away to it's location. Tolim glanced up from the outcropping he had found, noting both the krogan's and Jane's location. The creature was currently moving towards Jane.

Pushing his comm he growled, "Jane, it's heading your way. I'll try and distract it."

He was swearing as he propped the Widow onto the rocks. Sighting down the scope he fired at where the soil undulated. That got the creature's attention and the business end of the beast rose above the ground. Popping in a new heat sink after each shot, he fired a few more times, hitting the thing at least once. As one, Jane and Grunt rose up from their concealment and shot at the creature. Wounded now, it roared and turned back around spewing acid.

"He's facing us Tolim, shoot it," Jane yelled into her comm over the noise of the thing.

He sighted the creature down the scope and pulled the trigger, he could see a hunk of it explode from it's side. It sunk below the earth and changed direction once more, now headed for his location.

"Jane, it's coming for me now."

"On it, stay down. Grunt, let's finish this bastard once and for all."

Tolim crouched behind the rocks but he could hear the yell of the krogan and what sounded like a shotgun blast. Was he crazy? Who uses a shotgun on a thresher maw? The earth rumbled as the creature rose up out of the ground once more, the distinctive sound of a rifle shot and then more shotgun blasts.

Tolim peered over the rocks and saw the krogan shooting the maw as he dove from one place of cover to another. Apparently maws really hated shotguns because it kept chasing Grunt. Jane was keeping up a steady rate of fire and he joined her. Finally it collapsed, its sides quivering, Grunt strolled up and fired into it a few more times for good measure.

Grunt chuckled as Jane and that turian joined him. "Just like old times Shepard."

Jane laughed and playfully smacked the much larger krogan. "Now it's a party!"

Tolim shook his head. The adrenaline bleed from his body, tired and relieved the whole thing was over he went to join the other two. Was it any wonder the Reapers fell to those that Shepard led? She was fearless and instilled the same in those that fought beside her.


	6. Chapter 6

They had barely arrived at the hall for the dinner when they were pulled in separate directions.

"Shepard," Wrex growled as he pulled Jane to one side.

"Wrex."

Jane quirked an eyebrow at his tone.

"Grunt tells me you helped him with the thresher maw and that you took some turian with you. The same turian that arrived on the Normandy with you. The one I know who is the turian Councilor. Don't tell me you took Councilor Sparatus on a maw hunt and didn't even get him injured!" Wrex laughed.

"Of course he didn't get hurt, he was with Grunt and me," Jane hissed in a low voice, "keep it down, I don't want us to get in trouble."

Wrex leaned in close to her and took a deep breath. "And you're sleeping with him too? What the hell Shepard? What happened to 'so help me God, I'm going to shove a Reaper so far up his ass he won't be able to deny their existence anymore'?"

Jane slapped her forehead and groaned. "It's different now, so just shut it."

"Why him? You're fucking Shepard, half the galaxy would kill for a chance."

"I don't want to be Captain Shepard in my bed," she hissed angrily. "When we are together, I'm Jane...only Jane."

"You let me know if you need me to take care of him."

"I think I can take care of my own love life, thank you very much."

"Well you might want to go rescue him, looks like he's getting it from the Primarch now," Wrex chuckled as he walked away.

Jane turned around and sure enough it looked like the Primarch was having a serious discussion with Tolim. Squaring her shoulders, Jane forged a path through the guests at the banquet, heading straight for the pair of turians.

Victus saw Shepard's approach out of the corner of one eye and turned to greet the woman.

"Captain Shepard, a pleasure to see you again."

"Likewise Primarch."

"I was just asking the Councilor here where you two disappeared to this afternoon, in full combat gear no less."

"Primarch, we were given a tour by Jane's friend. Being Tuchanka we thought it prudent to be prepared for anything," Tolim explained.

"Exactly," Jane added, "and we came back without a scratch on us. So no worries."

"Why am I not reassured," Victus murmured. "I assume my Councilor will be returned to Benning then?"

"I don't know, he's pretty handy in a fight," Jane answered cheekily.

Even as the words left her mouth she realized what she just said and tried to fix her mistake.

"I mean, from what," she started.

Victus held up a hand, "You're a terrible liar. I'll just pretend I heard nothing."

The couple made to move away when the Primarch stopped them with another question.

"I've been fielding questions and speculation on what the arrival of you two together means. I thought you should be aware."

Tolim gave a small shrug and looked to Jane. They hadn't discussed where exactly their relationship was going or how open they wanted to be so he would let her decide. Jane gave a frustrated sigh, why did the galaxy give a damn about her personal life now?

"Tolim?"

"It is your call."

"No it's not you stupid turian, I don't know what you want," she whispered.

"As much as you will give me," Tolim murmured to her.

Victus was trying hard not to show amusement at how flustered Shepard was getting. Her face was flushed when she turned to face him.

"Fine," she growled, "Primarch, this is what it means that we arrived together."

With that said, Jane grabbed Tolim by the cowl and standing on tip-toes, kissed the Councilor in a very human gesture. The Councilor pulled Shepard into a tight embrace and returned the kiss with an expertise that implied this was something he did with her on a frequent basis. The hall went silent at first but then the krogan laughed and cheered and the rest of the species followed with a more dignified clapping. They were both smiling when they separated once more.

"Now that you've cleared that up, enjoy the rest of the banquet you two."

The Primarch left the couple, casually steering a few bystanders away giving them a bit of privacy.

"Well, I guess you're stuck with me now. I've outed us."

"I'm delighted to be 'stuck' as you put it. Now, how soon before we can make our escape back to the ship?" Tolim asked.

"Not soon enough if I know politicians and how they like to talk," Jane muttered.

She flashed him an apologetic smile when she realized what she had just said to him. Tolim merely chuckled and pressed his forehead to hers, clearly in agreement with her assessment.

* * *

It was after two a.m. local time before the dinner/party had broken up and they had been able to escape. Thankfully, the reporters who had attended had been kept at bay, thanks to their hosts. Wrex had sent two krogan to the couple shortly after their rather public display and the pair had done their job well. One intimidating look and any reporter who got too close quickly found somewhere else to be.  
Now the jostling of the shuttle had lulled them half asleep as they leaned against each other for the ride back to the Normandy. Jane wormed her way under Tolim's arm.

"Ugh, I'm so tired. Who knew the krogan would celebrate with such gusto?"

Tolim chuckled, "They have never done anything by half measures. Any particular reason your friend Wrex kept glaring at me?"

"Since he declared me his sister, he takes that pledge very seriously especially since I have no family of my own anymore."

"Ah so I have to worry about him then?"

"Nah, I'm a big girl, I'll shoot you myself if you piss me off."

"Good to know."

They staggered together out of the shuttle, a little drunk and very tired when it finally arrived on the Normandy. The walk to the elevator seemed to take forever.

"Captain, you'll never guess who was splashed across every single vid channel tonight," Joker's laughter echoed over the comm system.

"Joker, if you don't be quiet, I'll have EDI lock you out of the systems," Jane growled.

"Did you drink Ryncol with Grunt again?"

"Maybe...what time will we arrive at Benning tomorrow, err today?"

"ETA twelve o'clock. Better get your snuggles in while you can."

Jane grumbled something about mouthy pilots under her breath before slapping the call button for the elevator. Once they were in her cabin, clothes were shed and they fell into bed asleep almost as soon as they were horizontal.

* * *

The alarm clock next to the bed announced their impending arrival at Benning. Two groans greeted the noise and one human hand reached out slapping the table until finally connecting with the clock forcing it to cease it's noise. Jane pushed at the heavier body draped across her.

"Come on we have to get up. We should be arriving at Benning in about an hour."

"Don't cabin boys get extra sleep for performing their duties so well," was Tolim's muffled reply.

Jane freed herself from her bedmate and sheets and strolled to the bathroom.

"No," she called out from over her shoulder, "they are always expected to give only their very best to their Captain."

Tolim gave a weary groan before he too rolled out of bed. Still yawning he headed for the shower. Jane was standing under the spray, one hand against the wall while she let the water cascade down her body.

"When will you get shore leave again?" Tolim asked quietly.

"I have another mission lined up after we drop you off, but I should be able to get some after that. I'll let you know as soon as I can. Now, do I have to order you to join me in here?"

"That's the kind of order I like best," he replied moving in behind her to stand under the spray with her.

"What kind is that?"

"The kind where there is no down side to it."

If they were a little late leaving her quarters, well the crew wisely chose to ignore it. They made their way down to the airlock but Joker stopped them before they descended down the tube. Motioning to them to follow him, he led them to the cockpit and pulled up shots from all over the space port. If it had been chaos before when they had touched down on Benning, now it was twice as bad. Jane and Tolim watched as even more security poured into the docking bay pushing the crowd back.

"Holy hell, have they all gone mad?" Jane asked.

"The political analysts have been issuing theories, well since the news broke last night," Joker explained. "EDI's been keeping tabs on it."

"EDI, what are they saying?"

"The more extreme views are saying that you two are having sexual relations in order to curry favor for your respective species with the other species. One is even speculating that this will be the start of a joint human/turian domination of the galaxy. Some of them are treating it as a human interest story and there is speculation already on when you two will get married and even where you will live together."

Jane groaned as she banged her head against the hull of the ship.

"Are you okay?" Tolim asked.

"Me? I'm fine, I'll be out in space, the reporters will have a hard time pestering me. But you, I've ruined things for you. I'm sorry."

Tolim put a finger over her mouth. "Shh, I'll be fine. I've had to deal with reporters before. Besides, the Primarch didn't have a problem with it so the fall out from my own people will be minimal."

"Okay, but if it gets out of hand just tell me who to shoot when I come back and I'll take care of it."

He just laughed, "I doubt it will come to that, the worst I can see happening is we have to do an interview together to deal with the worst of the rumors."

"Shit. You do know I have a reputation for head-butting right?"

"Believe me, I know that now. No wonder the krogan embrace you as one of their own."

"Councilor, your escort is ready for you when you are," EDI announced.

"Thank you EDI, let them know I'll be down shortly."

"I guess this is good-bye for a little while, at least."

His answer was a gentle press of his lips to hers before he walked down the gangway.


	7. Chapter 7

After the war, rather than rebuild the Citadel, the council races had agreed to make a colony the Council's new home. The human colony, Benning had won that right. Compared to many worlds, it had sustained limited damage and with no relay in it's system, it would be harder to take by surprise. The Normandy began it's descent towards Benning's thriving space port after their latest mission.  
Captain Shepard stood behind Joker's chair watching their arrival. She was dressed in her plainest clothes and an old hat pulled down to cover her hair. Joker twisted around to gaze at Shepard.

"You know I hate it when you lurk behind me like that," he grumbled.

Jane grinned, "Really? I would never have guessed."

"We could have gotten more than two days of leave if we had landed, say, at some place near a relay."

"Well he wasn't able to get off world so Benning it was."

"So not fair, we come here just to get you to your booty call."

"Well imagine how cranky I would be if I didn't get my booty call?" Jane asked sweetly.

"Right, Benning is very nice I hear. So, um, Shepard this is just a booty call right?"

"Did you just ask me if I was using the turian Councilor just for his body?" Jane asked with mock indignation.

Joker just stared at her.

"Fine, no, it's more than just a booty call."

"Sparatus? Really Shepard? You do remember we used to hang up on the council all the time, right?"

"Amazingly enough, my memory isn't complete crap. What's this all about?"

"I just don't think he's good enough for you," Joker grumbled.

"Aww you're so sweet," Jane stated before planting a big wet kiss on Joker's cheek.

"Ugh, Shepard was that necessary?" He wiped his cheek with the sleeve of his uniform.

"Shepard, may I ask a question?"

"Sure EDI, why not."

"I thought kisses were a form of affection between humans. Jeff holds you in high regard so why was he repulsed by your attention?"

"Ah see EDI, there are several kinds of kisses. Joker is my honorary annoying little brother, and they hate big wet sloppy kisses from their sister more than anything."

"I see."

"Okay, patch me through to the ship EDI."

"The comm line is open."

"Alright crew, you have forty-eight hours to enjoy the sights of Benning. Have fun but if I get a call to bail your ass out of trouble, well, I hope you don't mind cleaning toilets with your toothbrush for the next month. Shepard out."

Joker turned to face Jane after the link was cut.

"Shepard, are you going to call security for an escort?"

"Hell no, if you think I'm going to be a prisoner on my own ship...well you're mistaken. Besides, Kasumi gave me an upgraded version of that tactical cloak she uses."

"Yeah you skulking through the port, can't see anything going wrong with that plan," Joker muttered.

Jane laughed as she walked away to join the throng of her crew departing the vessel. She gave Joker and EDI a wave and then disappeared with a touch to her omni-tool.

She stayed in the middle of the crowd and kept to the shadows when her crew began to separate. Once she was free of the worst of those that were haunting the docking area looking for the Normandy's captain, she let the cloak fade away. After that, it was easy enough finding a cab to take her to the Councilor's offices.

She strolled into the office to find a young turian woman manning the front desk. The woman looked up at her entrance.

"Excuse me but I think you have the wrong place, the human Councilor is two doors down," Essan explained.

"Nope, I'm in the right place. Tell the Councilor that Jane Shepard is here to see him."

She quickly looked at Councilor Sparatus's schedule. "I'm sorry but he doesn't have any appointments for a human named Jane Shepard for today."

Jane rolled her eyes and took off her hat. "That's Captain Jane Shepard, you know of the SSV Normandy."

"Oh...OH. Yes, I'll tell him right away ma'am."

Essan pushed a button and began talking rapidly, "Sir, there is a Captain Jane Shepard here to see you."

She had barely finished the sentence when Tolim threw open the door.

"Jane! I thought I told you to use my people for an escort?"

"Oh but I had this new cloaking program that needed a trial run, it works great!"

"Spirits," he muttered, "you sneaking around the docks using a cloaking program. How could that plan possibly go awry?"

Jane laughed, "You sound just like Joker. I made it here in one piece and I didn't even have to shoot anyone!"

Tolim waved her inside his office. The door had barely shut before he had her wrapped tightly in his arms.

"How long before you are done for the day?"

"One more call."

Jane pulled his head down to her level allowing her to press her forehead against his in the traditional turian expression of affection.

"See, I've done some research as well. I might even behave while you are on your call," she jested.

His rumbling laugh joined hers, "As much as I would love to have you distracting me, the call is to the Primarch so you will have to wait out with my assistant."

"Fine...fine. I'll be waiting out there, alone," she said with a heavy sigh.

Jane sauntered back out into the waiting area giving him a jaunty little wave before he shut the door. His assistant was back at her desk. Jane sat on the edge of it and held out her hand.

"Since we weren't introduced before, hi I'm Jane."

"It's an honor to meet you, Essan Yleras. Ma'am, please don't tell the Councilor but could I get an autograph for my brother?" she asked in a rush.

"Sure, what's his name?"

"Vorusk, he'll be so excited. Thank you so much," Essan gushed.

"Happy to help, is he younger or older?"

"Younger, he'll be entering the military in a few months."

Jane scribbled 'Best of luck Vorusk, Captain Shepard' on a piece of paper for the young woman.

"Lord, you look hardly old enough to be out of the military yourself."

"I only did the year of basic, just didn't have the knack for it."

Jane gazed over at the closed door.

"How long do his calls usually run?"

"To the Primarch, usually only thirty minutes or so. The Primarch gets reports but he likes to check in personally with his people. Then the Councilor has a reservation at the new restaurant...oh! It must be with you!"

"I certainly hope so or there will be words," Jane laughed. "And possibly some shooting."

Essan leaned in close to Jane, "I saw a replay of you kissing him on Tuchanka. I don't think I could have done that."

"To be honest, I didn't think anyone had caught it on tape. And I totally blame Victus. Besides, as I told a friend once, 'Nobody ever fell in love without being a little bit brave'. I'll let you get back to your work. Don't mind me, I'll just take a little nap while I wait."

Jane made a production of bouncing on all the chairs in the front office before finally settling on one. She pulled her hat down over her face and relaxed into the cushions. Essan tried to keep her face professional but she ended up grinning at the hero of the galaxy snoozing on a chair looking more like a vagrant then the feared warrior she was.

Finally off the call, Tolim exited his office wondering what mischief Jane had gotten up to while he was busy. He had barely stepped out when his Essan shushed him and pointed over to where Jane was napping. He gently touched her on the shoulder.

"Jane, wake up."

"About time. Essan told me you have some hot date lined up."

"Uh yes, about that. Perhaps we should go in my office so my assistant doesn't have to listen to you yelling at me."

That had Jane up and out of the chair, her eyes already narrowed at him.

"You rotten bastard, don't you dare tell me you have plans for tonight already."

"Woman, will you listen," he growled, "the reservation is for us but you can't go looking like that."

"Oh. Well in case you didn't notice, I didn't bring anything with me since I'm on leave for only forty-eight hours. So you'll just have to cancel it."

"Excuse us Essan," Tolim stated even as he grabbed Jane by the hand and towed her into his office and shut the door behind him. "Now I knew you likely didn't have anything suitable so I took the liberty of obtaining a few outfits. Pick whichever one you like best and we will go."

"EDI?"

"Yes."

He pulled several boxes out of a cabinet and placed them on his desk. Jane opened the first one, inside was a cream colored dress. Holding it up, it was even more beautiful than anything she had ever touched.

"Tolim, I can't wear this," she whispered.

"Of course you can, it's your size. They even threw in a pair of sandals when I told them you didn't like tall heels on your shoes."

"That's high heels and no, I hate them. Make me fall and look stupid, or more stupid. Fine, I'll try it on but if it is destroyed from touching me, it's your fault."

Tolim watched, amused as her clothes were scattered across his floor. He bent down and picked them up, carefully folding them and placing them on a chair. Turning back around, she was dressed. He had never seen her in anything but armor or dress blues before but now, well he would have to make sure they had more excuses to dress up. It was a gauzy cream colored gown, grecian style according to the shop owner. One shoulder bare and sparkling gems circled just under her breasts and the skirt flowing out from there.

"How do I look?" she asked nervously.

"Beautiful. Now try on the shoes, and I believe there is a set of hair holders in there to match your dress."

Jane hurriedly tried on the sandals, a little tight but hopefully they would stretch. In a small box, a set of matching jeweled barrettes was nestled among more tissue paper. She reverently pulled them out and looked around for a mirror.

"Bathroom, through that door," he stated pointing to a closed door.

From the bathroom she could hear the muffled sound of his voice as he talked to someone. Looking in the mirror, she carefully pushed her hair around wishing for once she knew what to do with it. In a few minutes she returned with the clips in, pulling her hair away from her face.

"I feel like Cinderella," Jane said with a grin.

Tolim cocked his head as he tried to make sense of that word, "I don't think my translator picked up that word."

"I'll explain over dinner. I still get dinner, right?"

"Of course. Now, the car is waiting so let's go."

* * *

The turians that were his normal guards waited for them just outside his office door. They fell in around the couple as they made their way down to the parking garage. It was rather odd for Jane, she had always done more guarding than being guarded. Their escort waited until their charges were safely stowed inside before taking their place inside the car. At least they had some privacy being in the back, Jane thought to herself.

"So, why go to all this trouble for dinner? I figured we would just eat at your place or do take-out," Jane asked.

"My original thought was to take you to a small restaurant where we might have some privacy at least. But after talking with the Primarch, he suggested that us being seen together, openly, in something as normal as two people on a date might quell some of the worst speculation."

Jane groaned, "So no quiet booth in the back?"

"Sadly no, although the restaurant was delighted we wanted a table out in the open. There should be no reporters at least inside to pester us, however, once we are outside."

"All bets are off," Jane groaned.

Their arrival at the restaurant was overlooked since no one had seen the Normandy's captain leaving her ship. Jane gaped at the building the car stopped at. The structure itself appeared to be made of fieldstone and the landscaping provided a backdrop of flowers and bushes so that it appeared you were entering a safe haven from a wooded glade. Valets and wait-staff stood waiting to assist the guests as they arrived.

"Tolim, this isn't going to work," she whispered urgently.

"Relax, you'll do fine."

"I grew up on a backwater farming colony. I don't know how to behave with this," she gestured wildly at the scene outside the window. "The Alliance didn't exactly give me training on how to move through, you know, society."

"I'm your only dinner companion so you have nothing to worry about."

"This is payback for the maw hunt, isn't it?"

Tolim laughed, "Wait here and I'll come around to open your door."

"What?"

"Trust me, and think of this as an infiltration mission."

"Fine but I knew I should have brought a gun," Jane grumbled.

Tolim exited the car shaking his head at Jane's reaction. He hadn't expected her to be so unsure of herself about dinner in a nice restaurant. He went to her side of the car, his guards already in position. He opened her door and offered her his hand. She took it hesitantly before stepping out. He gently placed her hand on his arm before he led her up the stairs and into the establishment.

The maitre'd could hardly contain his excitement over having them dining during his shift. The salarian talked excitedly the entire way to their table. Jane gulped nervously as they were seated at a table near a large picture window, in full view of the entire dining room. If she had been one of his guards she would have been pulling her hair out.

Jane breathed a sigh of relief when the man gave them their menu's and retreated. She opened it up, wondering if she could get a cheeseburger here.

"Shit," she muttered.

"What is it? Don't see anything you like?"

"Hell if I know if I like it, considering I don't know what any of these dishes are."

"Ask for whatever the chef's special is then. They will love you for it and it saves you having to try and figure out what you want."

Jane tried to peek at his menu, curious if there were turian dishes on hers that she didn't know were turian. Unless she stood up, she wouldn't be able to see his menu.

"Tolim, do you recognize any dishes on yours?"

"Of course, they have separate menus for all the different species. If you want an asari menu or salarian, you can ask for one."

"Uh no, human is fine. I was just curious."

She folded up her menu and gazed around the room. The room was nearly full, many different species in attendance. At least they weren't the only mixed species couple here which eased a little of the tightness in her chest. A few of their fellow patrons even gave her a furtive little wave which she returned with a grin.

"See, making friends already," Tolim chuckled.

"Ok, I admit I feel a little better now. Still felt like someone had tossed me into the deep end of the pool."

"What a horrible thing to do!" Tolim exclaimed with a shudder.

"Yes I can imagine it would be to you."

They were briefly interrupted when their waiter arrived to take their orders. When he departed once more they settled in to catch up with each other.

Tolim reached across to clasp Jane's hands in his own, "So about this cinder ella?"

Jane laughed, "Cinderella, name of a girl in a children's story. Bottom line someone got her fancy clothes so she could go to a ball, a dance thing."

"Ah, she had no suitable clothes then?"

"Nope and at the stroke of midnight her nice clothes would revert to the rags she normally wore. But she wanted to go more than anything to meet the prince. They ended up falling in love and after some trials they were able to be together."

"A story your parents told you when you were little?"

"Yes, my mom loved to tell me that story. And now you know why I said I felt like Cinderella. 'Course that makes you my fairy godmother, not sure how I feel about that."

"You? What about me, not sure what that is but it doesn't sound like something I would like to be. I'm much more suited to being the handsome prince."

"Oh crap! Speaking of clothes, I left my regular clothes at your office. Can we swing by and pick them up after dinner?"

"Not to worry, I asked Essan to have them sent to my apartment. They will be waiting at the front desk for us."

"And here I thought you might make them accidentally disappear, you know, so I have to spend shore leave, naked in your apartment."

"Damn! Let me send Essan a quick note, I'm sure she will 'lose' them for me if I ask."

Jane laughed as Tolim pretended to type out a message to his assistant.

"There, now you shall be naked and at my mercy," Tolim proclaimed with a grin.

"You forgot to do the evil laugh at the end."

"What would you suggest?"

"I've always personally favored 'mwhahaha'. It goes well with any situation."

"Right then. There, now you shall be naked and at my mercy, mwhahaha!"

Of course that was when the waiter brought them their food. Jane did her best to stifle her laughter while Tolim pretended that those words hadn't just left his mouth. The waiter was professional to the core as he kept a straight face while he served them their food.

As soon as he had left again, Jane leaned forward to whisper to Tolim, "Now you've been outed as the scoundrel you are."

He laughed, "Only with you."

Jane stopped laughing long enough to take a bite of her food. Her eyes closed in blissful delight. Tolim grinned at the change that came across her face.

"I take it you are enjoying that?"

"Oh my god, I have no idea what this is but it's amazing."

"Good, I'm glad you like it. And if you are good, I'll even let you get dessert," he teased.

"Honey, I'll be so good it should be illegal," Jane drawled.

He tried not to notice how she lingered over licking every single bite off of her utensils. But then he saw how her eyes watched him and quickly figured out she was doing it on purpose.

"That is not being good," he growled.

"No, this is being very good. You're just lucky the tablecloth is short or I would be showing you just what I can do with flexible human feet."

Tolim's mouth open and shut as he tried to process that. Jane gave him a sultry smile before returning to her meal. Each bite was savored with a variety of noises that typically were only found in the bedroom. Tolim shifted in his seat, thankful at least, that she wasn't being loud enough to be heard by their nearest neighbors. Though from some of the glances, there were those who recognized what Jane was doing.

Jane had been surprised that he hadn't insisted that she stop her blatant teasing but the heat in his eyes promised that he would remember it later. Now she was the one squirming in her chair under his gaze.

"Would either of you care for anything else, dessert maybe?"

"Chocolate, something with chocolate please."

"Just a cup of theae for me."

"I'll put that right in," the waiter stated giving a little bow before leaving.

"Chocolate?"

"The most decadent thing I love and I'm sure here it will be to die for. And you know, on Earth it's considered an aphrodisiac."

"I hardly think you need that," Tolim muttered.

"What's the matter, getting too old to keep up with me?" Jane laughed.

"I think I've proven I can take whatever you dish out," he retorted.

A steaming beverage was placed before Tolim and a slice of chocolate cake with a scoop of real vanilla ice cream was presented to Jane. Tolim braced himself for the onslaught of delightful sounds Jane would produce if she enjoyed that as much as she had her dinner. Jane didn't disappoint him.

She gave a heartfelt moan at the first bite. "I'm in love."

"I'm not sure if I should be offended or just jealous that a dessert has earned your affection so fast," Tolim laughed.

"This isn't just dessert, it's a piece of heaven. You smear a piece of this all over your body and I will happily lick every single crumb off of you."

Staring intently at her he asked, "So, do you want a piece to go?"

Jane's peals of laughter rang out across the restaurant.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Tolim shook his head laughing as Jane scraped desperately at the plate hoping for a few more crumbs.

"I'm surprised you're not licking it."

"I thought about it, but decided I wanted to be welcome back here again."

She finally put down her fork with a sigh.

"Thank you, for everything," she said quietly.

"It was my pleasure. I enjoy spending time with you, even when you tease me horribly."

Jane smiled before sighing, "I suppose this means we have to leave now."

"They would kick us out eventually, I'm afraid. Remember, we don't have to answer any questions we don't want to. This was more for us to be seen then an opportunity for them to grill us."

Tolim motioned for one of their escort. The men had been given tables near them so that they weren't standing about obtrusively while they ate.

"What's the situation outside?"

"Creon reported that there must be close to a dozen reporters and a fairly large crowd of onlookers. Shall I tell him to bring the car around?"

"Do it."

"Creon? It's Alerio, yeah...they are getting ready to leave so bring the car around. Alright, I'll let him know." Alerio bent his head down to Tolim's.

"Sir, he said give him five minutes to get to the front walk."

Tolim nodded to Alerio before holding out a hand to Jane.

"Remember, no head-butting."

Alerio snorted from behind him. "Don't laugh, you'll only encourage her."

"There's a reason why I'm not a diplomat," Jane grumbled.

Their escort formed up around them and they took their time leaving, none of them looking forward to the madhouse outside. Tolim stopped at the door and glanced down at Jane. She gave a small nod and then they went through the door.

True night had fallen while they had ate, but they couldn't tell that at first glance. The area was blanketed with lights from both personal and professional cameras. The general populous chanted 'Shepard' and Jane waved to them and they cheered back. Some of the closer reporters were able to shout out questions over the roar of the crowd. Jane chose to ignore the majority of them. No one needed to know who was dominant in their relationship and what the hell - what do turians taste like? She wondered if Joker was here but no it was a female voice. But one caught her attention.

"How could you Captain?"

Jane narrowed her eyes and turned to where the voice came from. "Who said that?"

"I did," a young human woman stepped forward. "Molly Stafford with Earth News First."

"And what did you mean by that? How could I what?"

"Out of all the eligible people in the galaxy, you chose a turian...why?"

"Tolim, are you attractive by turian standards?" Jane asked her companion.

Tolim stepped closer to her and replied, "I've not seen any small children run away when I walk by."

"Well there you go, he's a fine specimen of a turian. So you question who I date because I chose someone from a race that's not considered to be beautiful by most of the galaxy?"

"Well..."

"So you would be happier if I was dating say, an asari then?"

"Uh..."

Not giving the woman a chance to answer, Jane plowed on. "Perhaps you should get to know some turians before you start judging them. Also, you have no idea what you are missing."

Jane took Tolim by the hand and strode down the walk heading for the car. Tolim cast an amused glance back at the reporter, the poor girl hadn't stood a chance. Once they were inside the car he let out a laugh.

"Thank you, I don't think I've ever had such a flattering assessment of my, um, skills before, especially on camera."

"Yeah well, that girl was an idiot. Al-Jilani would've eaten her for breakfast."

"Now you'll have to help me keep the women at bay."

"I've got guns and lots of them," Jane replied with a smile.

Jane slid under his arm, resting her head against his side. A gentle hum that seemed to be coming from deep within his chest was oddly relaxing and then the warm weight of his head resting on top of hers made the moment perfect.

"Please tell me there is nothing else planned for my leave," she mumbled into his chest.

"Just you, naked, at my mercy," he replied.

"Oh good, that situation I can handle."

The inside of Tolim's apartment was a welcome respite from the night's activities. He had barely locked the door behind them when she had pulled her shoes off and began exploring his place. She turned back towards him a questioning look on her face.

"Can I ask a favor?"

"Of course," he replied, curious what she would ask for.

"Would it bother you if I left some things here? If it's a problem, I understand," she blurted out.

He stopped her outburst with a kiss. "I hope that whenever you have leave that you consider this place like your own."

"Oh, thank you. Just some guys get freaked out at the thought of a woman leaving personal things in their space."

"I'll let management know that you are to be allowed in day or night. Here is the access code to the building and the unit. I, uh, bought some things that I thought you might need. They are in a basket in the bathroom."

"That's so sweet, and handy since I snuck off the Normandy without even a toothbrush. Tour then?"

Tolim gestured to the large room they were in, "Living room, kitchenette. Afraid I don't cook much."

"Good, me either."

Opening a door revealed a large bedroom with a small area that had been turned into an office space. Two closed doors were on one wall.

"Bedroom, only the one. The door on the right is the walk-in closet, I've left space for whatever you would like to put in there. There is an armor and gun locker in there as well. Other door is to the only bathroom."

Jane threw open the closet, he hadn't been kidding about space for her. One side was empty except for a few hangers. She dropped the sandals on the empty side. Gingerly she squirmed her way back out of her dress and hung it up on one of the hangars.

Tolim placed the bag of her civvies on her side before turning to his side to remove his own dress clothes. She gave him a cheeky grin before he heard her enter the bathroom. A squeal of delight echoed in that room before she came charging back into the closet where he had just finished removing his slacks.

"The tub, please, oh please tell me it will fit two."

Tolim laughed, "Yes, it's rated to hold two adult turians so you and I can fit."

Jane charged back out and then the sound of water cascading into the tub could be heard.

"How hot can I make this?" she shouted out.

He entered the bathroom to find her naked and hovering by the tub.

"You can make it as hot as you like, my skin isn't nearly as sensitive as yours."

She danced from foot to foot as she waited for the water to fill the tub up.

"Excited are you?" he asked nuzzling the side of her neck.

"You don't know how long it's been since I've had access to one of these babies."

"The button there will turn on the jets in it."

"Hurry up and get in so I can."

"Yes ma'am!"

Tolim climbed in and stretched his legs out. He had barely sat down before Jane stepped into the water. As she slowly sank down to recline against him a litany of 'ow's escaped her.

"Here, let me add some cold."

"No, no, it has to be hot enough to make it uncomfortable at first."

He laughed at that bit of logic. As soon as the water was high enough he tapped the button turning on the water jets and then shut off the flow of water. Using a turian for a pillow in the bath wasn't the most comfortable thing but the heat of the water made it so she didn't care. When he took advantage of the fact that her body was so easily within his reach, well, it became perfect.

The light brush of his teeth on the side of her neck had the heat pooling in her belly and brought a contented sigh to her lips. She should turn around and give him some attention but it felt too good to just relax in his arms and let him do what he wanted.

"You're not about to proclaim your love for my tub now, are you?" he asked, his mouth never leaving her neck.

"I may have a great deal of affection for your tub at this moment but not as much as I have for it's owner," she replied, turning her head to kiss him.

"Mmm, well the tub's owner cares a great deal for you too."

"Good to know, since he just got a resounding endorsement from Captain Shepard so he's likely to be really popular now."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," he murmured in her ear.

She twisted in his arms so she could face him on her knees. One hand gently traced the sweep of his colony markings along his cheek while the other was braced on his shoulder.

"Are you sure? I know it's not easy since I spend more time on missions than not."

He brushed his forehead against hers, "I'm sure. Now I believe we were discussing over dinner how I was going to have you naked and at my mercy. Well we have the naked part covered so time to move onto the next stage."

Jane laughed wrapping her arms around his neck. "I like how you think."


	8. Chapter 8

Tolim's console beeped in time with the little red light that signaled he had a request for a vid call. He opened one eye to see what time it was. Sighing, he untangled himself from Jane and clambered out of bed. He could see when Jane began to stir in bed from his chair at the desk. It was the Primarch's code, so in a few keystrokes he had the channel open.

"Good morning Primarch, uh Jane is in the room. Should I ask her to leave?"

"Good morning Councilor. I assumed she would be there, this is just an update about last night. I wanted you to know that overall the general population believes you two are really in a relationship and that this isn't some political ploy designed to consolidate power between our two races."

Out of the corner of his eye he watched Jane sit up, the sheet sliding down her nude body. The devilment dancing in her eyes confirmed that she was going to test his concentration, again. She prowled to the edge of the bed on her hands and knees. A gentle cough from the Primarch brought his attention back to the call.

"Ahem, Councilor, I can see your distracted and I can imagine by who so I'll let you go. Enjoy the rest of your time off."

"Sorry Primarch and thank you."

He shut the link down and stood up.

"I guess I didn't quite wear you out enough," he growled, stepping around his desk.

"What can I say, I recover quickly."

She gave a delighted laugh as he stalked towards her. She scrambled to the opposite side of the bed in a vain attempt to elude him.

"Really, haven't you learned you can't escape yet?"

"I like to think of this as your personal exercise program, can't have you getting soft sitting behind a desk, old man."

"Old man? We'll see about that," he huffed out indignantly.

He loved seeing this side to her, the playful silly side he doubted few got to see. She was quick but there were limited places she could go so in a few strides he had her in his arms.

"See, naked, and at my mercy...again," he chuckled.

Jane squirmed until she was able to face him, standing on tip-toes to plant a kiss on his mandibles.

"Maybe you just fell into my trap," she purred at him.

"Really? Do tell, I fail to see how you have the upper-hand now."

Smiling, she wound her arms up around his neck, letting her hands drift back to that spot. That one she had found that caused him to utter that sound that was part growl, moan, and deep throated purr and that she loved to hear. She had just barely begun her assault, much to his delight, when his console beeped again that he had another incoming call.

"Dammit," they growled in unison.

Jane gave him one last kiss before she retreated to the bathroom while Tolim marched over to the desk to see who was calling now. He groaned seeing it was the code for the asari councilor. He opened the link.

"Good morning Councilor, what can I do for you?"

"We realize you took today and tomorrow off but something has come up and we need to convene."

"This can't wait until I'm back at work?" he asked coldly.

"I'm sorry, I know you, uh, have a guest. But we need to address it immediately."

"I'll head to the chambers shortly."

"Thank you," she replied relief evident in her voice.

Tolim shut down the link once more and rubbed his face.

"Jane," he began.

He heard her walk up behind him before she wrapped her arms around him placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"I heard. It's okay, both of our jobs are hard to escape. Of course I had the liberty of threatening my crew with a month of cleaning toilets with their toothbrushes if any of them called for a bailout," she joked.

"Hopefully this will only take an hour or two."

"Sounds good, I'll take the time to go get some things I need."

"Do you want me to drop you off anywhere?"

"Nah, your car should lure away the news varrens and there are some shops not far from here. I'll walk there and hey, I have my handy-dandy cloak program to evade reporters if I need to."

"I shudder to think of you running cloaked through the shops," he replied dryly.

"Meet you back here then?"

"Call me if you need anything."

At his serious expression she nodded, "I will."

* * *

Jane watched from the picture window as his car left, trailed quickly by several paparazzi. He really needed to switch to a new vehicle. With them out of the way, Jane headed out.

In her old jeans and ballcap pulled down and her hair tucked up, she was unremarkable. The large shopping plaza down the street was packed with shoppers. Jane ducked into the first large shop that looked to carry everything that she might need. Looking at the huge array of choices had her wondering if perhaps she could just order everything off the extranet like she usually did.

"Excuse me miss, do you need some help?"

Jane turned to find an asari behind her. Maybe this would go faster with some assistance.

"Uh, yeah, I had my luggage get lost and well I need a few casual but nice outfits and well underclothes."

"What size do you wear normally?"

"Medium, I think."

"Any colors you like or dislike?"

"Nothing that clashes with my hair," Jane explained as she pulled off her cap.

"By the Goddess, you're Captain Shepard," the woman gasped.

"Shhh not so loud. Please can you help me get some clothes so I can get out of here before they find me?"

"Of course, come over here to the changing rooms. Wait here and I'll bring you several outfits to try on."

"You're a life saver! Thank you!"

Jane could hardly keep up with the woman as she kept bringing more things for her to try on. With her help she had four outfits and all the other necessities in a pile on the counter. Crap, she thought, there would be no easy way to get this all back to the apartment.

"I don't suppose you could have all this delivered, I'll pay."

"Of course, just write down the address here and I'll make sure you get your new things in an hour or two."

Jane quickly wrote down the address and unit number.

"I'll be sure and come back here when I need anything else. Thank you so much."

"Are you kidding? No one will believe me when I tell them that I helped dress Captain Shepard. Could I get an autograph please?"

"Of course, who should I make it out to?"

"Adali E'tiash."

Jane wrote on the old stock picture that the Alliance had issued of her, 'To Adali E'tiash, the best damn shopping assistant on Benning. Thanks again, Capt. Jane Shepard.'

Jane tucked her hair back up into her ballcap and headed back to Tolim's apartment. There were a few news correspondents hanging around the front of the building but Jane just ignored their shouted questions. One man blocked her path, Jane glared at him but he held his ground resolutely.

A building attendant rushed to open the door for her, hoping to end the stand-off.

"If you think you can stop me from entering then you don't know who the fuck I am," Jane snarled.

"We just want to ask a few questions, Captain."

"No, now move before I move you myself."

"Sir, you need to leave our residents alone. If you fail to do so then we will call security on you," the attendant informed those prowling the landing.

Jane marched around the reporter to gain access to the building. The attendant followed behind her.

She gave him a smile and said, "Well that went better than I expected."

He returned her smile with one of his own, "Well I would have loved to see you actually kick his ass but my boss wouldn't have appreciated it."

"Neither would have mine. Oh, some packages will be arriving this afternoon for me, page me and I'll come get them."

"Don't worry Miss Shepard, we will keep an eye out and one of us will be happy to deliver them."

"Thank you, that's so nice."

Jane found the apartment empty still. Rummaging through the small kitchen area she found Tolim had purchased food and drink for her. God, he was the best, boyfriend? Nah, that sounded like they were fifteen again, hell what were they to each other? Shrugging she gave up on trying to name what they were and settled down to eat when her omni-tool pinged an incoming call.

"Shepard here," she mumbled around her food.

"Skipper," the voice began.

"Ash! What's up?"

"Oh, just checking in. You know, and wondering if you have lost your mind."

Jane laughed at that, "Kind of late for that thought don't you think? Anything in particular on your mind?"

"When I saw the footage of you kissing that turian on Tuchanka, I figured Wrex had dared you. But after last night, really? You're dating him?"

Jane laughed, "If Wrex had dared me to kiss someone, it would have been someone more exotic...oh say the hanar diplomat that was attending. And Bakara would have skinned him alive for pulling such a stunt at that ceremony. Now as for Tolim, is it because he is a turian or because he is Councilor Sparatus?"

"Well, both. I mean, you were always open to all the aliens but when you never hooked up with one before...I well, just thought you weren't interested in relationships."

"Ash, listen to me. I didn't have any relationships before because working on my less than amazing interpersonal skills during a war seemed like a bad thing all around. And well, I honestly didn't count on making it through. So it hardly seemed fair to get involved with anyone then."

"You used to call him all sorts of things before, so I just find this change in heart hard to swallow."

"Well he invited me to a weekend on a beach, and we hit it off. We even discussed our, ahem, interactions from before."

Ashley laughed, "That's one way of saying it."

"He was just doing what he had to do. I mean look at it from his perspective, we really had no proof of anything. It's over and done with and I'm happy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I am. So how about you? How are things with you?"

"Oh good, though it feels weird still not being on the Normandy with you. You didn't tell Hackett to kick me off did you?"

"Hell no, I think he was afraid I was corrupting you and Vega too much."

A chime echoed through the apartment.

"Hey Ash, I need to go, someone's at the door."

"Ok Skipper, and if you need anything don't hesitate to call."

"Thanks, and I will."

Jane opened the door to find one of the doorman with all her packages. She piled them up and hurriedly gulped down her food, wanting to put things away before Tolim got home. It was in the closet where he found her.

"I see you've been busy."

"Yeah, I took you at your word although the salesperson had some crazy notion that I needed sleepwear."

Tolim laughed at that, "Shocking. I hope you straightened her out."

"Of course! Get everything settled?"

"Yes, although I think it could have waited but it's done now. I get so little time with you that I don't want to give a moment of it up."

Jane stood up from where she had been taking tags off of the clothes. Crossing the room she took his hands in her own.

"I know. I put out some feelers about getting switched to a new job, you know something groundside."

"Really? What choices did they give you?"

"I thought they would offer me a slot as a trainer, but they didn't. Hackett suggested that I would be perfect as the human ambassador to Tuchanka."

Tolim's hopes crashed and burned but he managed to choke out, "What did you tell him?"

"No, of course." Jane looked up when she heard the pain in his voice. "Hell, I know if I took that I would have to give you up and I'm not ending this. So you're stuck with me and me in space for now."

Tolim buried his head into her neck and wrapped his arms around her.

"Good," was all he managed to say. What he really wanted to tell her was how important she had become to him.

* * *

They had settled onto the sofa as they went through the list of vids available trying to find something to watch together. Tolim scrolled through the list waiting for Jane to chime in when she saw something that interested her.

"Are you sure about this?"

"This being what?" he asked mildly.

"Granted, I've never studied turians outside of the military aspect but you guys really sit around naked when at home?"

At this moment, Tolim was glad that she couldn't pick up on turian vocalizations otherwise she would hear the amusement in his voice.

"Of course, why wouldn't we? Granted, it's typically only couples that do this or single people but why wear clothes when our, um, delicate parts are so nicely protected? Are you cold?"

"No, you have it nice and warm in here and well, I always have your body heat I can borrow."

"My body is yours," he replied with a grin.

A retort died on her lips when the door chime went off. They looked at each other, the same question on their lips.

"Are you expecting someone," they asked nearly in unison.

"Crap, nothing worse than getting caught in a fire fight naked," Jane stated running for the bedroom.

Tolim followed Jane, expecting her to be throwing on her clothes. Instead, she was busy pulling a pistol out from his weapon's locker.

"I doubt you'll need that."

"Better safe than sorry."

Chuckling, Tolim threw on a pair of slacks before heading to the door. Turning on the camera aimed at his door, he groaned when he saw his friend, Oraka.

"Go away Septimus," Tolim growled through the door.

"I come bearing gifts," was his laughing reply.

Jane emerged from the bedroom, pistol in hand and clad in one of his undershirts. It hung loosely on top and fell only a few inches down her thighs.

"Who is it?"

"Give me the gun so I can shoot him myself."

Jane approached the door to see who was on the other side of the door.

"Is that General Oraka?"

"Jane, be a dear and make Tolim open the door. I have some chocolate cake for you and kurrll fruit for him."

Tolim opened the door with a sigh, knowing his friend wouldn't go away peacefully. Septimus strolled in and took a good look at their clothing choices.

"Well you didn't sound really pissed so I didn't interrupt, ahem, anything so why is she just wearing your undershirt? Not that it isn't fetching on you," Oraka asked.

"Oh we were just going to watch a vid and Tolim explained that you guys like to relax at home, naked. So that's why we just threw on what was handy."

Septimus chuckled, "Well it's true we have been known to enjoy being home naked but for the most part that tradition passed out of favor, oh hundreds of years ago."

"Really now?" Jane asked turning her gaze to Tolim.

"Well it's one I think should come back into favor. You have to admit we spend more time naked than not when we are together," Tolim laughed.

"Bastard," Jane said with a grin.

"Now that you've ruined my fun, I think you can go now," Tolim stated waving Septimus back towards the door.

"Oh no, I have this lovely cake to deliver and well the fruit for you."

"And why are you bringing us gifts?" Tolim asked.

"Well, because you two are simply wonderful for my personal life! After that on-the-air statement last night, I've had no less than four propositions today!"

Jane burst out laughing, "What are friends for!"

"Exactly! I helped Tolim out and now he's, well inadvertently, helping me. So I thought I would give you both a little something as a token of my appreciation."

"So happy to help you," Tolim remarked dryly. "You've given your gifts, now you can leave."

"Fine, fine, no need to brandish a weapon at me besides I am meeting a lovely lady later. I'll let you get back to your evening."

Tolim happily pushed his friend out the door, shutting it once more. Still chuckling, Jane returned the gun back to the locker. They settled once more on the couch.

"Still wearing my shirt I see."

"Old Earth tradition, stealing your lover's clothes."

Tolim gave a rumbling laugh before pulling her tighter against him as they decided on a vid finally. He was only half aware of the show when Jane began to speak.

"You know, after Mindoir, I've never really had a home," she explained, her voice low. "I joined the military as soon as I could. Others would take leave to go home, me, I just went to the nearest town. After I was given command of the Normandy, by the way thank goodness they cancelled the spectre program."

"Yes, we wouldn't have been able to do this if you were still a spectre," Tolim murmured.

"Anyway, the Normandy was the closest thing to a home I had, but after the war, they took most of my old crew away. Hell even my shuttle pilot, Cortez, they transferred him to a fighter pilot unit. Not that he didn't deserve it but just that the Normandy isn't the same with only a few familiar faces on her now."

"I'm sorry," he began.

"No, it's okay. What I was trying to say is that here, with you, this feels more like a home than I've had in a long time."

"None of your family survived the attack?"

Jane shrugged, "I may have distant relatives somewhere but as far as I know, I'm the last Shepard. My parents, their siblings, my cousins, my siblings...all gone."

He rubbed the side of his face against the top of her head, "I'm sorry. I lost my immediate family during the war, my brothers and their families...my parents had died a few years before the war during an outbreak. But this, with you, yes this place becomes more like a home."

"I don't suppose you will get reassigned somwhere else?"

"I could request a new position but the Primarch would likely bring me back to Palaven as an advisor which is more or less a drop in tier in the Hierarchy."

"Well that would be bad. So here it is then."

"We'll make it work, some how."

"Yeah, we stopped the Reapers, how hard can a relationship be?"

"Exactly."

* * *

An incessant beeping woke Tolim, it was too close to his head to be his. Jane groaned before slapping the alarm on her omni-tool off. Now that the noise was gone, he settled back down to sleep some more.

"Blargh, let go...I have to get up," Jane grumbled sleepily.

"Too early, you have hours before your ship leaves," Tolim mumbled, his voice muffled against her neck.

"I've got to get there early in order to go over everything before we leave. I'll call a cab so you can sleep some more."

Reluctantly he released his hold on her and followed her out of bed. He rubbed his face, morning had come faster than he had wanted. The sound of the shower lured him into the bathroom.

The bathroom was already filling with steam when he joined her under the spray. A sleepy grin crossed Jane's face when she saw Tolim joining her. Winding her arms around him she pressed her face into his chest, finding the gentle rumble there as soothing as the shower.

"You didn't have to get up silly."

"What? And miss some of my time with you, never. I'll take you to the port and hang around and pester you if that is okay. I still owe you for the Primarch's call after all."

Jane laughed,"I'd like that."

* * *

The car was oddly quiet, words not coming easily to either of them. Jane felt her eyes close as Tolim ran his talons through her hair. At first he had been hesitant to tousle it but now he enjoyed it nearly as much as she did. This was likely the last private moment they would have together so she had better make the most of it, she thought to herself.

She swung her leg across his lap in order to straddle him bringing them close together. He took advantage of the change by wrapping his arms around her pulling her closer to him. Jane cradled his face between her hands, looking into his eyes and wondering if he could see how she felt about him reflected out of her eyes. She brushed her lips against his mouth plates, hoping to express at least a little of how much she cared for him. He countered by teasing her lips with the gentle brush of his tongue. She reluctantly broke the contact, sitting back on her haunches.

"I thought we should do a proper good-bye while we had some privacy," she told him.

"I thought that was what we did in the shower," he grinned.

"No, that was making a memory to keep us going. This is going to be a long tour. I don't expect to be back for three or four months."

"That long?"

"Yeah, they are sending us to several of our most distant colonies. When I get back, do you think you could get say a week or so off and we could go away together?"

"I'll see what I can do. Anywhere in particular?"

"I don't care, there is so much I haven't seen at least not with a gun in my hand. I just want to get away somewhere with you."

"I'd like that too."

"I'll try and send you messages before we have to go silent. Some of the more distant systems are still getting the comm buoys up so contact maybe spotty."

The motion of the car settling to the ground brought them back to the now. One last press of her forehead to his before she slid off his lap and back into her own seat. They exited the vehicle into the busy commotion of the docking area. He opened the trunk and pulled out a bag and pressed it into her hands.

"What's this?" she asked.

"My shirt that you became so fond of, wouldn't want to ruin any human traditions of yours," he laughed.

Opening the bag she found the undershirt of his that she had worn around the apartment. She grinned at him before reaching up to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks! I will say that I've never had anyone try to get me naked by claiming it was traditional before."

"I'm still hoping to bring it back into fashion," he chuckled.

"Well I'm sold on it. Come on, you can watch from the shuttle bay as I make sure all the supplies I ordered are on board."

He found a place out of the way where he could watch her as she switched to being Captain Shepard and not just Jane Shepard. He heard shuffling and a more metallic sounding footstep coming up the ramp into the bay. He nodded in greeting to the Normandy's pilot and it's resident AI, but rather than continuing on, the pilot switched direction moving to join Tolim where he stood.

"Commander Moreau, good to see you again."

"Councilor," Joker said with a nod of his head. "Listen, about Shepard...she's like family to me, you know and I was just wondering where this was going."

Tolim pulled away from the wall he had been leaning against to stand straight. "What exactly are you asking me?"

"Well, is she just a fling or what?" Joker blurted out.

Tolim would have laughed except he could see the man was serious.

"I'm very serious about her and it's good to know she has friends such as you to look out for her," Tolim replied gravely.

"Right then, I'll just head up to the cockpit. You, uh, won't mention this to Shepard, will you?"

"No, I think it's in everyone's best interest to keep this between us."

"Good," Joker stated with obvious relief.

Jane had noticed that her pilot had made a detour to speak with Tolim. That got her curious, knowing Joker it was probably something embarrassing. She placed the datapad she had been checking over down on a crate and wove her way through the supplies to reach Tolim's side.

"So what was that about? Joker threatening to hang up on your calls for old times sake?" Jane asked.

"No, he just stopped by to say hi, maybe he regrets that his Captain back then made him disconnect calls so rudely."

Jane grinned up at him, "Doubtful, I think he enjoyed it immensely."

"Everything going as planned?"

"So far so good. No one forgot to order toilet paper or mistakenly order us five hundred cans of spam."

"Spam?"

"Don't ask, it's nasty and I think it just pretends it's a meat."

"Well that's not reassuring in the least."

"Spam never is. But I'm going to have to say goodbye, the last supplies are coming on now and then we will be shutting the bay doors."

"Alright, I'll look into setting up a vacation for us. As soon as you know when you'll be off let me know and I'll make the final arrangements."

"I will. I'll miss you," she said softly, her hands softly brushing the side of his cheek.

"And I, you," he returned quietly even as he leaned into her soft touch.

A gentle brush of his forehead to hers and then he picked his way down the ramp. Jane watched his stately march amongst the humans hurrying to load the last few items before he was out of sight and the ramp clanked shut.


	9. Chapter 9

**~Author's note - Thank you for all the reviews, follows, etc! And for your patience while I try and get a handle on using this site correctly! I'm happy you are enjoying my story!~**

From: Jane Shepard  
To: Tolim Sparatus

God, I can't believe it's been two months since I left and it sure as hell seems a lot longer than that. I did learn some things that I REALLY didn't need to know. Joker felt it was his obligation to inform me that there is now a skyrocketing porn market for human/turian pairings. And oddly enough they seem to be based on us, his words not mine. He's been sitting on this, claiming he wanted to make sure he had the facts right. Hell, he had spreadsheets! I think I need to find him a new hobby. I threatened to delete his entire 'collection' if he gave me anymore stats on porn. He insisted that we are helping the economy, and thought we would like to know where to invest our earnings.

On a different note, you should lay in a supply of those undershirts of yours. Sadly mine no longer smells like you and I plan on stealing a few more when I get in. Who knew big spiky aliens would like such soft things next to their skin? Oh wait, that's because that little band of skin between plates are rather sensitive if I remember correctly. Especially when I run my tongue along them but I'll need to recheck that when I get back. I bet I could make a killing penning my own self help guide - In five easy steps you too can turn your turian partner into a growling begging mess.

Well I better sign off. This will be my last message for a bit, the system we are heading to next has lost their comm buoys several times now. We rendezvous with several more frigates tomorrow. It is a joint effort to sweep the system for whoever is doing it, so hopefully that will be the end of it and we can get some much needed shore leave.

Missing you,  
Jane

From: Tolim Sparatus  
To: Jane Shepard

That's just cruel to mention porn and then that wonderful thing you do to me in the next paragraph. So we are helping out not one but two industries, porn and turian clothing. I wonder if I can convince the Primarch that I should get a bonus for my efforts. Now as far as your guide, I think it requires more than five steps. We better do a lot more research before you try and sell that. And as far as your desire to acquire a few more shirts, I do think a mutually beneficial arrangement can be made, as noted in the previous sentence. In fact I think I'll make a supplement to your guide - Making your human partner scream your name in five minutes or less. I look forward to the research our writing careers is going to require.

The Primarch has agreed to let me have a week where I will be all yours. When I explained that we wished to travel, he suggested our first vacation together should be to Earth and maybe the second one to Palaven. Enclosed is an attachment that has various areas that are open to tourism again. Pick a few and I'll see what I can set up.

Since you aren't here to help me stay in shape I've taken to sparring with some of my guards, you'll be happy to know that they no longer defeat me quite so easily anymore. I much prefer your exercise regimen that you instituted with me but sadly I need you here to perform it correctly.

Yours,  
Tolim

* * *

Tolim paced in front of his console, the computer open to a trade proposal he was supposed to be reviewing for the Primarch. It had been three months since Jane had left and a month since her last message. If Tolim didn't hear something soon he would go to Alliance command and demand some answers, protocol be dammed. The sparring sessions after work with some of his guards did little to relieve the worry that ate at him. Alone in the apartment at night, that was the worst. He had even left the things she had used where she placed them, a daily reminder that she said she was coming back. But they were also a reminder that she wasn't there and the uncertainty that he hadn't heard from her in weeks.

His assistant poked her head into his office which was odd, his rather short temper lately had her using the comm system usually.

"Sir, I have an audio only call from the Normandy," Essan began.

"Thank the Spirits, patch it through Essan!"

"At once sir!"

The light blinked green indicating the connection was available, he couldn't push the button fast enough.

"Jane," Tolim said with a relieved sigh.

"Councilor, it's Joker" the voice began.

"Joker?"

"Yes, listen Shepard can't talk right now. But I know she would want you to know."

"What in hell is going on?" Tolim snarled. His talons dug into his palms at the fear that gripped him.

"We are in en route to Illium to bring Shepard to a hospital. I know she would want you to hear it from me rather than wait for an official announcement whenever that would be."

"Spirits," he gasped, "how bad is she?"

"I won't lie, it's bad but she should make a full recovery. Dr. Chakwas sedated her to keep her quiet. She needs surgery and the doc doesn't want to do it on the ship while we have a mission still. The thing is, we have to leave her behind and rejoin the rest of the frigate pack to complete our objective."

"I'll see what I can do to be there for her. Which hospital?"

"Thessia General in Nos Astra, we should be there in a few hours."

"Thank you, Joker. I know you didn't have to go out of your way to tell me."

"Like I said, I know she would want you to hear it from one of her crew rather than a general statement issued by the Alliance. To be honest, I'm glad you can get to Illium so there is at least one friendly face to visit her while she is stuck ground-side."

As soon as the link ended Tolim bellowed out, "Essan!"

His assistant reluctantly opened the door, fearing she was about to be the recipient of his wrath. He had been short tempered for weeks now.

"Yes sir?"

"Get Oraka on the line immediately."

"Right away!" She shut the door and gave a shuddering sigh of relief.

Tolim hit the comm line button as soon as it was lit.

"Septimus, I need transport for me and my people to Illium. Do you have any ships heading that way we can hitch a ride on?"

"Tolim? Why in the world do you want to go there? What's happened?"

Tolim rubbed the back of his neck, "It's Jane. I just got off a call with her pilot, they are bringing her to a hospital in Nos Astra. Before you ask, I don't know anything beyond that. He only said she was hurt bad but should make a full recovery and the ships doctor couldn't perform the surgery she needed on board."

"Let me see what I have, hang on a minute while I pull up the information."

Tolim could hear the rapid clicking of keys as Oraka hunted for what he needed.

"Okay, there is a ship leaving in three hours from Benning. The Steadfast out of berth fifty-four, I'll let the Captain know you and your people will be joining him. It technically doesn't have a stop at Illium but will pass right by it so they can shuttle drop you at the least. What are you going to tell the Primarch?"

"I'm putting in for emergency family leave but bringing my assistant so I can at least take care of most things remotely."

"Uh, you two aren't bond-mates."

"Not officially, not yet. But she has no family and I won't let her be alone since her crew had to return to the mission. Thank you. For everything, you've been a good friend."

"Glad I could help. Good luck and give her my best."

* * *

She had been stuck here in this room for three days so far, she had counted every crack and even mapped out an escape route. If only her body would back what her mind conjured up. Granted the first day she didn't really remember since Chakwas had her sedated from the time she had been brought back onto the Normandy until they had landed here. But now she was awake and still confined to the bed, a few more days they said. She was liable to go stark raving mad before that.

Jane sighed and tried to push herself more upright but her body still refused to obey her commands. Her right arm was in a cast from the shoulder down to her fingers but the real danger had been the shattered ribs. She was on bed rest until the doctors were sure no more chips were loose inside from the breaks. The broken bits of her omni-tool implant sat on the bedside table reminding her that she had no way of communicating with anyone further upping her frustration.

Her day nurse entered the room carrying what looked to be another meal. Nurse Zahera gave her a broad smile as she placed the tray in front of her.

"Do you need to use the restroom before lunch?"

"No, but I could use a console. Come on, some one has to have a portable one that I can send a message out on. Just one teeny tiny message," Jane pleaded.

"There are public terminals in the waiting area, I've explained that."

"I'm confined to my bed until further notice. I can't use those terminals and you know that," Jane huffed. "I've got the credits, just buy me one and I'll pay you back."

"Are you trying to bribe me?"

"If it works, hell yes!"

"Well the world will wait, now won't it?"

"You're lucky I don't have a gun," Jane muttered angrily.

"Aww you're so cute when you get mad."

"You should be scared of me, I destroyed the Reapers I can take out one nurse."

"Ha! Like to see you try it. Now eat your lunch or do you want me to feed you?"

"No, I'll feed myself, Nurse Ratched," Jane grumbled.

"Who?"

Jane gave her a bright smile, "Nothing. See here I am, eating my lovely lunch."

"Goddess, you are such a pain in the ass," the nurse laughed as she left the room.

Jane morosely settled down to picking at her lunch, she had been lucky in one way, being lefty she could feed herself easy enough and didn't have to rely on someone else. The meal was only marginally better than her usual ship fare but at least they had given her a private room. The staff feared reporters would find out she was here and disrupt the hospital so they had her near the nurses station as well. She flipped through a few channels on the tv looking for something besides news.

She barely registered the presence of the nurse returning to collect her dishes. The nurse gave Jane a questioning look when she didn't unleash her usual vitriol over her situation.

"Are you in pain Captain Shepard?"

"No, I'm fine. Just bored and wondering how long I'll be stuck here."

"Well once you are off bed rest you can be released as long as you have someone who can be with you while you recover."

"Yeah, see if you let me send a message I know someone who would come get me off of your hands."

"Your lover?" Zahera asked grinning.

"Yes him," Jane replied with a grin, "my crew are in the middle of a mission and well the Alliance hasn't shown up here yet to claim me."

"Well in a day or two you'll be able to contact him yourself."

The sound of raised voices could be heard coming from out in the hallway, one of them had that familiar flanging snarl to it. Oh yes, she had been the recipient of that particular reprimanding voice before.

"What now?" Zahera sighed.

As soon as Zahera had opened the door to her room, Jane yelled, "Tolim! In here!"

Zahera turned back to give a reproving glare to her patient but when she spun back around she found herself staring at a turian chest.

"Excuse me, but I found who I was looking for," Tolim stated as he sidestepped the nurse in front of him and ignored the ones behind him.

"I don't want to know how you found out she was here," Zahera ordered, "but you need to know the rules sir."

Tolim stopped his march towards Jane's bed to give the asari his full attention.

"One - she is not to leave the bed. If she tries to get up call one of us. Two - you may not move her unless you are willing to be shown the safe way to do it. And finally, no," she waved a hand at the two of them, "ahem, no, relations until the doctor clears her."

"Of course, I'll make sure she behaves," Tolim stated with a small bow.

Zahera gave a disbelieving snort, "Good luck with that."

Tolim waited until they were alone before he pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead as he pulled a chair closer to her bed.

"Tolim! How did you find me?" Jane cried happily grasping his hand in her one good one.

"Your pilot was kind enough to inform me that they were bringing you here while they were still in transit. I came as soon as I could. Tell me what happened?"

Jane groaned and flung her hand over her face. "I was hit by a remote controlled deadfall. The bastards used a dead krogan as the weight, they must have had cameras hidden nearby and waited until I was underneath. I managed to avoid getting totally smothered but as you can see my right side took the brunt of the weight."

"Couldn't your ship doctor repair your arm?"

"Yeah, but she didn't want to go hunting for the broken bits of my ribs while the ship was on a mission still. Do you know how many 'it's raining krogan' jokes I had to endure before Chakwas mercifully sedated me?"

Tolim chuckled, "Apparently too many. I've been trying to reach you but I kept getting an error message."

"Yes, see that right there, that's what's left of my omni-tool that they had to remove when they fixed my arm. And my jailors wouldn't bring me a terminal so I could at least send you a message. How long are you able to stay?"

"I took emergency family leave but I brought Essan as well so I can handle things remotely as needed. I'll try and stay as long as I can. When will they release you?"

"Nurse Ratched said I should be off confined to bed in a day or two at that point I could leave if I have someone who can be with me. I was hoping I could go back with you, if that's okay with you."

The door to her room opened causing them both to peer at who was entering now. Jane groaned at the sight of Admiral Hackett. Tolim eyed her in amusement.

"Captain, Councilor Sparatus, why am I not surprised you beat me here. Do you mind, I need to talk with the Captain for a moment?" Hackett asked.

Behind Hackett, the hallway was rapidly filling up with guards as Alliance marines joined the Councilor's. Tolim pushed his chair back from the bed before standing.

"Of course, Admiral. Jane," he stated.

Hackett waited until the door shut once more. "Captain, the doctors assure me you will be released from bed rest in a few days. At that time, we will transfer you to a medical ship that is nearby. It is our belief that you were the sole target of that trap, no doubt, the pirates wished to strike fear into civilians by being able to claim that they had managed to kill the woman who led the galaxy into defeating the Reapers."

"I kind of figured that out when I was the only one hit by it."

"We don't want them to get that sort of credence so we want you to accept a the position of Ambassador.

"Sir, I can't, I won't."

"The reason?"

"Just left the room, sir."

Hackett paced a moment before answering, "I can transfer you to headquarters to be an advisor then."

"With all due respect sir, I wish to retire from the military."

"Captain Shepard, are you sure that's what you want?"

"Sir, I think I'm ready to do something else with my life."

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. But," he held up a hand to prevent Jane from interrupting, "it's your life. I will hold off on making it official until you have made a full recovery. The time off might change your mind. As such, I will cancel the transfer to the medical ship since I'm sure you will make other plans."

"Thank you sir. It's been an honor."

"That it has Shepard, that it has."

Tolim wasted no time upon seeing the Admiral depart Jane's room, returning to Jane's bedside.

"Where are they moving you too?" he asked a knot of dread in his chest.

"Nowhere, I put in my resignation. So, umm, can I go home with you?" Jane grinned.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

Jane sighed, "As I lay there pinned under that dead krogan, barely able to breathe, all I could think was I didn't want to die like that. There is so much I haven't seen or done and I wanted to do all that with you. I think I'm ready to do something else with my life."

"Really? What will you do then?"

"I don't know yet but I have at least a month before my arm is out of the cast so I have some time to decide. Growing up, I thought I'd be a farmer like my parents and like the rest of my extended family since that was the only life I knew."

"What made you decide to be a soldier then?"

Jane closed her eyes for a moment.

"After I lost my family, I wanted to prevent it from happening to anyone else. I had no family, was in foster care until I could legally join the Alliance. And then Elysium happened which only strengthened my resolve to make my family's sacrifice have some meaning. But now, do you think they would be disappointed that I want to be something else?"

Tolim gently tucked that lock of her hair that always seemed to fall into her face back behind her ear.

"Jane, how can you think that? You helped save the galaxy, almost died for it even. Any parent would be proud of you and what you have accomplished."

"Did die actually, but that's another story. So do you think you can take me on a more permanent basis then?"

Tolim brushed his forehead against hers, "It can't be worse than how worried I've been the last few weeks."

Jane snorted at that, "The nurses here might disagree with you on that point."


	10. Chapter 10

Jane watched from the window as Tolim's car left for the Council Complex. They had arrived last night back on Benning after a four day trip by commercial starship. It had been ages since she had been forced to use anything but military. Of course, traveling with the turian Councilor meant a private suite, even with all his people it was very nice. Of course, Tolim took that time to memorize the datapad of instructions the doctor had given her. He then promptly distributed it to his whole squad of guards, much to her chagrin. And he enforced the doctor's orders completely. Breathing exercises, muscle stretching, everything, he watched and counted and made sure she did exactly as was prescribed. Going down the list and checking off when she had accomplished what the doctor had ordered.

It still irked her that she had to rely on others for at least a few things but it was better than being stuck in a bed again. Tolim had merely assumed that pose she knew so well; hands behind his back, a slight tilt to his head as he his eyes stared at her when she had tried to bluff her way out of needing someone with her while he was at work. Just a few minutes of that look of his and she had conceded that perhaps having someone around to help her might be good. Terribly unfair of him to wield that look at her now.

Hackett had been true to his word. The Alliance had released that she had been injured but didn't mention that she had resigned. She had been highly amused when speculation ran rampant on why she wasn't convalescing on an Alliance base but instead was currently ensconced in her lover's apartment. The officials had finally stated that since she had no living family this was where she had chosen to recover while unable to do light duty. After that, the reporters lost interest in the story, after all, how much trouble could Shepard get into when she was on medical leave?

Not much, she thought to herself. Just walking around the apartment was hard between the pain medication and the fact that the medication only made it uncomfortable to breathe rather than the shooting pain it otherwise was. Her current commando nurse, Tolim had shook his head when she gave them that title, was Dronak. They had guns, she had explained to him and they were taking the place of a nurse. Therefore, they were commando nurses!

She knew he was watching her as he sat reading something on a datapad. She had been half tempted to pretend to collapse but thought better of it, after all she wasn't sure what sort of sense of humor he had. The last thing she wanted was for him to put in a panic call to Tolim, yeah, the fall out from that would not be pretty.

She joined Dronak at the table, taking a seat in front of the portable terminal that Tolim had purchased for her before they had even left Illium. Opening her personal account she found a message waiting for her.

From: L.T'Soni  
To: Jane Shepard

Shepard, glad you have access to your account again. Attached is the last backup we did of your omni-tool. Let me know when you get a new one and we will download everything to that as well.

Although I was aware that the Turian Councilor was interested in you, I will be the first to admit that I would never have guessed you would end up in a relationship with him. Are you aware that his friend General Oraka actually was monitoring the beach you two were at, looking for signs you were about to kill each other? If you are happy, then I'm glad but I have to share at least this little bit of information. My predecessor had files on all the councilors, the only thing I have of note on Tolim is the fact that he has had several relationships before the one with you. The only notable thing was that were all very short lived. Granted, you two have been together much longer than any of his previous relationships and well, he has never had a partner move in with him either. So perhaps that is a good sign.

And Joker, Goddess, you wouldn't believe the information he requested after you made that comment on camera about turians. I told him I had better things to do than to encourage his strange obsession. My guess is he went to EDI next for help.

Finally, I know that you won't be returning to the Alliance. Unlike Hackett, I know that once you make up your mind it's nearly impossible to get you to change it. I wish you the best in your retirement. I'm sure you'll find something that makes you happy.

Let me know if you need me to find out anything.

Liara

Jane shook her head, sometimes being friends with the Shadow Broker was a scary thing. But at least she had most of her data from her omni-tool back. Closing down Liara's message she opened a new one.

To: Jeff Moreau  
From: Jane Shepard

Joker, if you are done compiling data on turian porn can you send my things to this address? I put in my resignation with Hackett, though he won't make it official until I've made a full recovery. Hope everyone is doing good, miss you guys.

Shepard

After sending that out, Jane stared at her computer for a few minutes. Her thoughts raced about, what was she good at besides killing? Nothing leaped to mind, maybe there was nothing else she was suited for. That was a bleak outlook sending a shudder down her back. She was pulled out of her thoughts by an incoming request for a vid call. She clicked accept and on the screen Tolim appeared.

"Everything going okay?"

"Yep, got a message from Liara and sent one to Joker requesting my stuff from the ship. I did manage to restrain myself from pulling a prank on Dronak, it wasn't easy."

"Do I want to even know?"

"Probably not," Jane laughed and then winced, "Ouch, must remember not to laugh. Oh, Liara helpfully gave me an entire rundown of your previous relationships. I think she worries you are gonna toss me out soon."

"They were hardly secret. Things just didn't work out so I ended them. I don't think you have to worry about that happening to you."

"Hey, you can't take anything for granted. I've been racking my brain trying to think of a plan B for life after the Alliance. Luckily I have several weeks still to try and figure something out."

"Well I'm sure the pain medication probably isn't the best thing for clear thinking. Don't worry, I have faith that you'll find something that you enjoy."

"Hmm the only thing that comes to mind is porn," Jane stated waggling her eyebrows.

Dronak snorted in amusement.

Tolim shook his head before sighing, "I don't think the restrictions can come off soon enough."

Jane grinned, "Hey you did say something I enjoyed. And I do so adore all those wonderful things you do for me."

The noise coming from Dronak now sounded like a wounded cow as he desperately tried to keep the laughter in.

"See you're going to be the death of my men. Now behave until I get home."

"I'll try but that's a tall order."

"Don't I know it," Tolim replied dryly.

* * *

A week later and they had settled into a comfortable routine. Evenings were set aside for her exercise and for them to chat about their day. The first time she had tried to stop before completing a full set, he had calmly stated that she was short the count prescribed. She had tried to explain that she had rounded up so he quickly took over counting for her. Which Jane had turned into a game as she tried to make him loose count by talking to him.

Jane stretched her good arm up while breathing as deeply as she could. Tolim eyed her, making sure she was doing it correctly. Neither of them verbalized their count.

"Tolim, how do you feel about plants?" Jane asked in between breaths.

"Why? Plan on introducing one to me?" Tolim chuckled.

"Ass," she replied with a grin, "I meant, you aren't allergic or anything to them?"

"What I have to eat it as well?"

"No," she huffed, "just some humans are allergic to the pollen plants produce."

"Ah no, I'm not allergic to plants that way. Have something in mind?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to get some plants for the apartment. My mom always had plants in the house. You'd think that working on a farm she would have gotten enough of them but she loved having them all around her. So I kind of associate them with home."

"I believe I've told you on numerous occasions that this is our place. If you want some plants, then we shall get some."

"I know, but like I said some humans can be allergic to them so I didn't want to do anything until I asked you."

"Are you going to order them off the net?"

"Oh no, you have to pick them out yourself or else you might get something sickly."

"Well if you are up to it, then we can go on my day off tomorrow."

"Great! And I think I finished my count as well."

"Try five more, as we both know, counting is not your forte," Tolim bantered.

"Rounding up is a perfectly legitimate math operation," Jane countered with a laugh.

* * *

Tolim awoke to the sensation of a soft body pressing against him. Then the unmistakable feeling of hair tickling his nose caused him to snort. Opening one eye, he found Jane leaned across him dragging the ends of her hair across his nose.

"Was that really necessary?" he growled.

Jane grinned, "No, but it was fun. Come on sleepy head, let's get some breakfast. We have someplace to go today."

"Brat," he chuckled, "Hmm can't think of anything that would make me want to get out of bed."

He pulled the sheet up over his head pretending to burrow down into the bed to go back to sleep.

"Well when they finally take the restrictions off my activities, I promise I'll show you just how much I appreciate you," she explained in that soft husky voice he loved.

Tolim shook his head, "Who would have guessed that going to a plant shop would be so exciting to Captain Shepard?"

"Shush, that's former Captain. And it's called a nursery or garden center and stop teasing me and get out of bed."

Tolim thought about dragging it out even more but didn't have the heart to tease her further. It was good to see her excited about something so mundane. He had worried that between no longer being a soldier and the current limits of her body, depression would set in.

"Fine, I shall get up as ordered," he huffed as he threw the sheet off.

Jane clambered out of bed right behind him. She planted a kiss on his mandible before practically dancing off to the closet to retrieve some clothes. Tolim followed in her wake, waiting until she had picked out the outfit she wanted so he could move in and help her with her shirt. He had been terrified the first time that he had helped her, sure that he would further damage her. But she had merely winced as he had levered her arm through the hole of the arm of the tank top. Now they were both adept at the maneuvers needed.

Tolim dressed in his oldest set of clothes, after all he had no idea what was in store for him while buying plants. But knowing Jane he should expect the worst, like having to dig up your own. Out in the living room, he found Jane in the kitchen eating a nutrient bar.

He looked at her and sighed, "Not even a real breakfast?"

She tossed him one of his, "I'll buy you lunch."

* * *

Tolim stood outside the largest garden center in Joughin, Jane had told him this fact rather excitedly during the car ride here. He wasn't sure that was such a good thing personally. Looking at the size of the place, they would be lucky to get out of here before dinner. The feel of her hand holding his as she tugged him down the aisles made it worth it though.

Jane grinned at the stunned look on Tolim's face, he had no idea what buying a few plants for the apartment would turn into. A salesperson approached them when she finally stopped at a display.

"Can I help you find anything?"

"I'm looking for some plants for our apartment. Some flowering and some more like ferns, you know large and leafy."

"Of course, obviously we don't have ferns here since we only sell species native to this planet but I know of a few that might fit your needs."

Two hours later, after Jane had poked and felt what must have been hundreds of plants, at least that was how it seemed to Tolim. Jane had finally picked out a handful of plants and all sorts of other things she said they would need, all to be delivered later today. Tolim breathed a sigh of relief when they finally returned to their car.

"Do I get lunch now?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, you were a good sport about it all," Jane replied with a chuckle.

She snuggled into his side before asking, "Now where can we get a good cheeseburger for me?"

"You? What about me? Forced out of bed and with only a nutrient bar for sustenance. I will wither away under your care," Tolim replied mournfully.

"Hey boss? I think I know the perfect place for you both," Creon called out.

"Near by I hope?" Tolim inquired.

"Yep, we get take out from there when we get tired of each other's cooking."

"A round of burgers on me!" Jane yelled out much to the delight of the car's occupants.

The restaurant was small, some might even call it a dive but the smells that hit them when they opened the door were wonderful. It was still a bit early for lunch so there was no one else waiting in line before them. Jane looked at the menu by the order station long enough to confirm they did indeed have cheeseburgers.

"Whatya have?" the human drawled behind the counter.

"One levo cheeseburger, everything, fries and a chocolate shake and whatever these guys want. Creon, get something for the guys off duty as well," Jane stated as she handed the man a credit chit.

Creon, looked over at his boss for confirmation. Tolim shrugged, "You heard the lady."

Creon grinned, "Right then, make that the usual for Alerio in Apartment 605, Regal Estates."

"And you?" the counterperson asked of Tolim.

"Uh, deluxe dextro burger I guess and I'll have a Tupari."

"Right."

He deducted the total from Jane's chit and handed it back to her. In a matter of minutes steaming bags of food and drinks were handed out to them. Jane gazed forlornly into her bag, she desperately wanted to eat the burger but that might be a bit tricky in the car. She popped one of the fries in her mouth and found them to be crispy perfection. Tolim grinned at her blissful expression.

"So you are won over by food?"

"Good food," she mumbled in between bites, "military fare is questionable at the best of times."

"Miss Shepard is right," Creon added from the front, "one of the perks of this job is access to real food all the time."

Alerio and Dronak added their agreement to Creon's, the two guards staring wistfully at the bags of food.

"Please, just Jane is fine."

"Right, Miss Shepard."

Jane chuckled, "I take it you are going to keep calling me that then?"

"You're pretty smart for a soldier, ma'am."

"Former soldier...smart ass."

"I blame you, you're a bad influence on them," Tolim remarked with a laugh.

* * *

Jane fidgeted next to Tolim where they sat on the sofa. The vid just wasn't holding her attention like she hoped it would. Looking up at the clock, she found it was only fifteen minutes since she last checked.

Tolim nudged her, "Impatient are we?"

"They should be here soon. Do you have an old sheet or something we can use to catch the dirt?"

"If we get dirt on the carpet, I have an automated system to take care of it. Normally it only turns on in the middle of the night but I can override it."

"Ha, more like how much will we spill...not if. Too bad we don't have a patio that would make it easier."

"We can always get the two bedroom unit, they have patios."

"That's alright, I like this size. Besides I finally got all my ships put up, I'd hate to have to move them now."

"I still think the model of a Reaper is creepy."

"Hey that's Sovereign and I did move it out of the bedroom at least. The first of them to tell me I couldn't stop them. Pfft showed them."

Tolim laughed, "Yes, you did."

The intercom sounded and Jane scrambled off the couch to reach the control panel. She slapped the button.

"Shepard here."

"Miss Shepard, we have an order of plants and materials for you."

"Great! We will be right there."

"That won't be necessary, it should be at your door in a few minutes."

Jane threw open the door and stood in the hallway waiting. Shaking his head with a laugh, Tolim joined her. The elevator door opened and two men exited, pushing a cart in front of them. Seeing the couple standing in the hall, they made a beeline for them.

"In here guys," Jane called with a wave.

The cart was pushed inside and quickly emptied between the men and Tolim while Jane hovered near by. Tolim looked at Jane while waiting for what was next.

"I assume you know what to do with all this stuff, because I don't."

"Yep, we need to transplant the plants into these bigger pots. First, put a layer of the rocks into the bottom of each pot."

"Why did we have to buy rocks? Are these special?"

Jane chuckled, "No, it's just easier than going hunting for enough rocks to fill the bottom of the pots with. Now pour enough of the potting soil in to fill the pot to about here."

Tolim carefully measured the amount as ordered into each of the four pots.

"Next, you will have to get the plant out of their little pot. Gently push on the sides of the pot to try and loosen it. If that doesn't work just rip the pot apart but you need to have one hand supporting the plant. Tip it upside down so you can hold it at the base while you try to free it."

Tolim growled a little as he tried to free the plant without damaging it. Finally it popped out, the roots wound around and around into a tight mass.

"See it's what they call root bound, that means the plant was getting too big for it's pot. Now, place it into the new pot and then pack more soil around it until you cover up all the roots."

Tolim carefully placed the plant, one of the ones that had pretty flowers she had said they reminded her of ones she knew on Mindoir, into the pot and poured more soil around it. Jane joined him patting down the soil with her one good hand. Brushing her hand off on her jeans, she grabbed the watering can she had filled up while he had been wrestling with the plant. She carefully watered the newly potted plant with a satisfied smile on her face.

"There, one down, now just three more to go. You're pretty good at this, I'll make you my official assistant."

Tolim grinned, "What's my pay?"

"Hmm it will have to be more of an IOU," she replied winking at him.

"I look forward to when I can collect then," he laughed.


	11. Chapter 11

Tolim remained sitting although he couldn't stop his mandibles from twitching as he waited impatiently for the doctor to finish checking Jane over. The doctor swept his machine gently across Jane's ribs where the bruises had finally faded to just a hint of discolored skin. Next, he scanned along the arm currently in a cast. Finally satisfied he had all the data he needed, he plugged the machine into his computer and viewed the results.

"Everything looks good Miss Shepard. Your ribs and arm are almost fully healed and even better there is no sign of pneumonia in your lungs. I take it you've been doing your breathing exercises as ordered?"

Jane grinned, "Yep, someone even makes sure I do the exact number every time."

"Excellent. I'd like you back next week. If your bones continue healing at this rate, I'll take your cast off then. I'll probably have you keep it in a sling for a few hours a day until you have had a chance to work your muscles a bit more."

"Great! Uh, what about my restrictions?"

"Anything you can carry comfortably with one hand is fine. Take your pain medication only as needed."

"I've been cutting back on it already, usually only use it at night."

"Excellent."

"Uh doc, I meant, you know, all my restrictions," Jane explained waving a hand in Tolim's direction.

"Oh...OH. Um, so long as your careful, I don't see why not. Missionary is out for a bit yet but you on top should be fine. If you had two good arms, from behind would also be fine. If it hurts, then stop obviously."

"Thanks! We'll be careful."

"Good because I don't want to see you until your next appointment."

The doctor left the room allowing Jane to pull her shirt back on. Tolim moved to her side to assist her.

Jane grinned up at him, "You're in trouble now mister."

"I think it's the other way around, I believe I have several IOU's from you. Yes, I know I have them written down somewhere," Tolim murmured as he patted his pockets as if looking for them.

"Well make sure you don't work late tonight then," Jane replied with a smirk.

"As if I don't have enough incentive already," Tolim countered with a chuckle.

"Never enough I always say. Now let's get out of here so you can get back to work."

"As you wish," Tolim said with a flourish of one hand.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you are still quoting that vid. If you call me Buttercup, I will hurt you."

Tolim laughed, "You were the one that picked it out."

* * *

The ride back to the apartment seemed far to short. Tolim turned to say goodbye to Jane but she gave him that grin and swung her leg over his lap. Her hand crept up and stroked his cheek plate. He kept his hands on his legs fearing he would hurt her if he tried to embrace as he desperately wanted to do. Smiling, she bent her head at that angle that signaled she was going to kiss him. It had been awkward at first, as they learned how to grapple with their partner's different anatomy but now the gesture was familiar.

Her lips grazed his and her tongue danced along the edges of his lips. A soft growl arose from his chest as he leaned into her touch. Their tongues tangled briefly before she pulled back.

"There, now you can go to work and know what is in store for you when you get home."

Tolim gave a wistful sigh, "Somehow, I think I will be finding the reports I have to update today a challenge."

Jane grinned at his expression while she climbed off of his lap. She waved goodbye as the car lifted off to bring him to work. There was a spring in her step as she sauntered into the front lobby, it was turning into a most excellent day.

She waved in greeting to the salarian manning the front desk as she headed to the elevators.

"Miss Shepard," he called out, "someone is here to see you."

Jane turned to see who, when another voice caused her to switch direction again.

"Shepard."

Jane's mouth dropped open as she turned to find her best friend standing there. His mandibles flared in a grin at her.

"Garrus! What the hell? Why didn't you tell me you were going to be on planet?"

Jane reached up to give him a one armed hug, Garrus gingerly patted her trying to avoid her cast.

"Sparatus didn't tell you? There is a meeting tomorrow I have to attend."

"No, he didn't. And neither did you! Well, come on up and we can catch up."

"Ah, how about we take a walk. I've been riding in a ship for three days, it would be nice to stretch my legs."

"Sure, there is a nice park near by, Jane suggested. "Crap, wait a minute."

Jane hurried over to the front desk. "Can you connect me to Councilor Sparatus's guards?"

"Of course Miss Shepard, one moment...there you go."

"Hello?"

"Dronak, that you?"

"Yes Miss Shepard, I've been wondering where you were."

"Still in the lobby, a friend of mine showed up and we are going to head to the park so if you want to follow along, you better hurry."

"On my way."

"A guard, really Shepard?" Garrus shook his head in disbelief.

"Yeah, yeah...I know. I was just released off of most of my restrictions so I've needed someone with me at all times."

"For a broken arm?"

"No, I'll explain when we get outside," Jane muttered under her breath knowing he would be able to hear her but not the attendant.

Garrus nodded, waiting beside Jane. It wasn't long before the unmistakable sound of booted feet echoed in the area. A turian with a light tan hide and green colony paint jogged out into the lobby. Garrus eyed the guard, his armor was clean, weapon holstered and looked well maintained. It seemed that Sparatus used former military for his retinue of guards.

Dronak stopped short upon seeing Advisor Vakarian standing next to Miss Shepard. He nodded in greeting.

"Advisor Vakarian, Miss Shepard. Ready when you are."

"Salute him, he loves that. Remember that General back on Menae?" Jane snorted as she elbowed Garrus in the side.

"And there you go, ruining a perfectly nice afternoon by bringing that up," Garrus stated as he sighed dramatically.

"You poor thing," Jane mocked.

Garrus followed Jane out into the morning sun. Dronak stayed several paces behind them. Neither of them said anything until they had entered the park proper.

"So what really happened? I thought it was odd that you were on medical leave for a broken arm," Garrus asked.

"They left out that two of my ribs had been badly broken. The doctors performed surgery to fix them and make sure there were no loose bits that could do more damage in there. I had to have someone with me at all times in case of complications so Tolim's guards were given a schedule."

"Damn Shepard, you should have said something."

"No sense worrying you. I know you were dealing with your job and your family. Speaking of them, how are they?"

"Dad and I are still talking so that's good. Though now he is bemoaning the fact that Sol and I haven't settled down yet."

Jane chuckled, "You could always ask the Primarch to transfer you back to the military."

"Yeah and then Sol would be out for my blood as well," Garrus laughed.

Dronak slowed his pace allowing them more privacy. His eyes scanned the area looking for anything that shouldn't be. There hadn't been any Cerberus attacks in a while, but no one was taking a chance still.

Garrus bent his head down closer to Jane's, "Liara said you had put in your retirement to the military, that true?"

"Yeah, after getting hit by a krogan, don't bother I think I've heard all the jokes already, I decided I wanted to do something else."

Garrus chuckled, "Can't imagine why a krogan to the side would change your mind."

"Better than a missile to the face," Jane countered with a grin.

"My injury just improved my ruggedly handsome face," Garrus stated with a grin.

Jane patted him on the shoulder, "You keep thinking that."

"Jane," Garrus faltered for a moment.

"What?"

"Are you happy here?"

"I'll be better when I get this damn cast off."

"I mean, besides that. You know, you and Sparatus. You have to admit that you are an odd pair."

"I know, I certainly didn't expect us to be still together. But amazingly we work."

"I just didn't want you to think you had to settle for him. There are lots of other choices out there. He and I have had, ahem, our issues since the war ended."

"Don't worry, I didn't. You should have dinner with us, get to know him out of work and you might find he isn't exactly what you think he is."

"If you think he will agree to it, sure. Send me a message where and when and I'll meet you guys. I should go check into my hotel but I look forward to seeing you tonight."

Jane leaned up on her tip-toes and gave him a chaste kiss to the scarred side of his face. Garrus watched her walk back towards the apartment, the guard moving up to walk beside her now. He shook his head that this was the same woman who had prodded, yelled, and threatened the galaxy to unite against the Reapers.

* * *

Jane bustled about the apartment unable to keep still. She had already wrestled herself into a nicer shirt and brushed her hair. She had just begun her nightly check of her plants, they were now an even dozen, when Tolim burst through the door.

"Good, you're still here," he growled.

Jane scratched her head in confusion, "Of course I'm here, I was waiting for you. Why would you think otherwise?"

"The message said you were meeting him for dinner."

"No, read it again. It said WE were meeting Garrus for dinner."

Tolim tapped at his omni-tool and found the message. He ducked his head in embarrassment, it did say we.

"Now, you want to explain what that," Jane asked waving her hand at him, "was all about?"

"I wasn't going to let him just stroll in here and appropriate what was mine."

Jane would have laughed if he wasn't so deadly serious. Instead she asked, "Yours?"

Seeing the fire building in her eyes, Tolim tried to explain.

"Perhaps that was a poor choice of words."

"You think?"

"I meant, we are couple and I wasn't going to let you go without a fight."

"Fine, I can understand that. But why would you think he was here to whisk me away?"

Jane walked to where he stood near the door and took his hand in her's as she waited for his reply.

"There were plenty of rumors during the war that you two were, you know, together. After you returned to active duty, he was the one I watched. But he didn't return to your side so I pursued you."

"Tolim, I'm sure there were rumors, but Garrus and I, we never had a romantic relationship. Let me explain, after Cerberus rebuilt me, I found myself alone working for an organization I didn't trust. The Alliance didn't know what to do with me and were dithering about trying to blame pirates for what the Collector's were doing. When I found Garrus, one of my old crew, someone I could trust, I finally could breath a bit easier. The Illusive Man may have told Miranda she was my XO but it was Garrus who I went over dossiers with and mission tactics with. We swept my cabin and the Main Battery of cameras and bugs and we would lock ourselves in and discuss anything and everything. He was the first one to look me in the eyes and say I was really me, not something fake that Cerberus had made to look like Commander Shepard."

"Why would you think you weren't you?"

"I died over Alchera, Tolim. Not nearly died...I DIED. An explosion threw me free of the Normandy and it damaged my air hose. So while, the little oxygen I had vented into space I saw myself falling towards the planet. Either one of those things would kill me, both of those things were happening to me. I remember every horrible second before I blacked out and then I woke up on a lab table. How could I not wonder if I was really me?"

"Vakarian helped you adjust," Tolim stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, and during the war, once more he was my right hand man. You should thank him, without him I'm not sure I would have survived. He was the only one who would really yell at me to take care of myself. Ordering me to bed, bringing me food. Hell he probably spent more time sleeping in my cabin than he did in his own bunk, watching over me. I returned the favor when worry over his family ate at him. Together we could function where alone, either of us might have faltered."

"So you won't be running off with him," Tolim breathed out in a sigh of relief.

"Don't get me wrong, if Garrus showed up here when I was fully functional saying he needed me for a mission, I would follow him in a heartbeat. But we never had a romantic relationship, he is my best friend. You and I, however, we are a couple."

"I'm sorry," Tolim began.

"It's alright," Jane interrupted, "I thought you understood how I felt about you. That's what I get for following the advice of those articles on the net."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Jane stammered, "they said you shouldn't declare your feelings too quickly as that scares men away. Although we have been together for months, most of that was when I was in space. But if you have any doubts, I love you Tolim."

"Well then we have both been foolish. I was afraid to say how I felt, everything I read said humans were slower to form emotional bonds than turians. I've been going slow but Jane, I love you too."

Jane laughed pulling his head down so she could press her forehead to his.

"Now that we have that settled, let's go to dinner. And I expect you to at least try and get to know Garrus. I don't expect you to be best buddies but try and keep an open mind."

"I will. Perhaps it is too soon for this, and you don't have to answer right away, but Jane, will you be my bond-mate?" Tolim blurted out.

Smiling Jane answered, "That sounds like a fine thing to me too."

"Good. It will probably take nearly a year for us to plan the ceremony. I'm sure both of our governments are going to want to make sure we invite the right dignitaries and that sort of thing," Tolim explained happily.

"Oh, now that's where I draw the line. Our governments can go take a long walk off a short pier, our marriage is for us, not them," Jane argued.

"Well, what then?"

Jane thought for a moment than a sly smile crept across her face, "I believe there is an old Earth tradition that will serve us well."

"What is that?"

"Elopement."

"My translator didn't quite understand that."

"It means we find the nearest official who can marry us and do so, privately. Neither of us has family and I really don't want a formal ceremony. Although, we can have a party later on to which we can invite friends and whatever dignitaries our government think are necessary."

"Agreed, that sounds perfect."

"You know, I even have a great idea for the reception."

"Whatever you want is fine with me," Tolim agreed cheerfully.

"I've always wanted to have a Luau."

"That is?"

"A Hawaiian feast."

"Oh no, you can't mean," Tolim began.

"Yes, don't worry you won't be the only one suffering. I think I'll stipulate on the invitation that no Hawaiian print, no entrance. It will be a sea of Hawaiian shirts, it will be glorious," Jane laughed.

"I love you Jane, but your love of giant flowers is sometimes scary."

"Want to back out now?" Jane grinned.

"Never," Tolim proclaimed.

* * *

_Five months later on a once quiet stretch of beach on a remote planet._

Dusk had just started to creep across the sand when the Tiki torches flickered to life along the perimeter of the area. The light they provided was minimal at best, so artificial lamps were discretely placed about as well. Music drifted across the sand as well, loud enough to be enjoyed but soft enough to allow conversation still. From the edges of the dunes all the way down to the sea, the area had been cordoned off. Planters of tropical greenery had been brought in to help hide the temporary fences erected to maintain some semblance of privacy and protection.

The party was in full swing when a human woman and a turian male escaped the throng. Hand in hand they strolled down to stand at the edge of the sea. They did not escape without notice however. A few individuals broke away and prevented those who would have followed them from doing so, allowing the couple a moment of privacy.

Jane sank down onto the sand with a relieved sigh, giving a tug she pulled Tolim down to join her. He folded his legs dropping to the sand. Once he situated himself, he wrapped an arm around Jane's shoulders. She leaned into him with a happy sigh. For a few moments they just stared at the rolling arrival of waves a short distance from their feet.

"Had enough of our party already?" he asked.

"Just wanted a moment for us. I haven't had to deal with that many people in a long time. When I told the Prime Minster he could invite whoever he wanted as long as my friends were included, I had no idea he would invite dignitaries from every species."

Tolim laughed, "I'm more surprised that they all showed up with some form of clothing with tropical flowers on them."

"Well I did stipulate that it was mandatory on the invitations. I must admit the sight of a geth prime with a hawaiian shirt over it's platform, well that was something to see alright."

Tolim sighed, "Do you regret not being out there, running around the galaxy anymore?"

"Tolim, are you trying to get rid of me?"

"What a foolish question Jane."

Jane chuckled, "No, I love being a plain old gardner."

"You'll never be plain," Tolim countered.

"I hate to admit it but I had to use some of my war tactics to get that job."

"Please don't tell me you threatened to shoot the man unless he hired you," Tolim groaned.

"Ass," Jane nudged Tolim in the side before continuing, "the salarian that ran the place was aghast that I wanted a job there. I had to threaten to spend all my time there tending the plants without pay before he finally relented and gave me an official position."

Tolim laughed, "I'm glad he saw the error of his ways. You know, we still have to decide where we are going to go on, what was it you humans called it? Sugarmoon?"

Jane laughed, "Honeymoon...it's called a honeymoon!"

Tolim snorted, "Hardly my fault that the translator keeps calling it sugar. What exactly is honey?"

Jane's mouth open and shut as she tried to think of a way to explain that bee's made it by regurgitation without it sounding even more disgusting than it already was.

Shaking her head she laughed, "You don't want to know, but for our purposes it just means a trip taken by newlyweds. I would say, anywhere we want, with the Reapers gone it's a brand new beginning for both the galaxy and us."

"A new beginning, I love the sound of that."

_**The **__**end**_

_~Author's note - Thank you again for all the reviews, follows and what not! I'm happy so many have enjoyed my quirky little story. My next one will be slightly different, a FemShep/Mordin, written for Mordinette's prompt on the kinkmeme.~_


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